


What's the world 'Sans' a little trust

by shiftingfootsteps



Series: Growing Bitties [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Abandonment, BittyBones, Boredom, Broken Barrier, Despair, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fear, Freedom, Golden Cage, Hope, Human, Hurt/Comfort, Loneliness, Monsters, No Smut, OCs - Freeform, Owner/Pet, Post-Undertale Genocide Route, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Public Nudity, Shrinking, Social Issues, Soulmates, Survival, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2020-11-23 19:11:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,709
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20894696
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiftingfootsteps/pseuds/shiftingfootsteps
Summary: After being freed from the Underground, monsters became 'bitties' as humans called them.Small, unable to protect themselves properly, monsters had no choice but to entrust care for them to humans,that were guided by toriel and asgore, always alongside frisk to ensure everything went smoothly.But being stuck in a bittycenter (as the carecenters for them were called) all the time became worse for him, when Sans' brotherPapyrus left him.A decision made on a whim to be able to leave the center turns into quite a tedious, degrading episode, because the normally observant skeletonwas running out of excuses and couldn't be bothered to try harder.His quick escape plan ends in him desperately hoping for help only to get his wish at the end.But as the saying goes 'be careful what you wish for'.





	1. Golden Cage

**Author's Note:**

> The first chapters is setting and some plot.  
No reader yet.
> 
> I apologize if there are things that are unclear, english is not my mothertongue and  
it's been a while since I wrote something continuous.
> 
> Bittybones were originally created by fucken-crybaby  
Undertale Characters are obviously not mine either, this is one of the many story ideas I had.  
Growing AU, so Sans is actually himself only his own backstory.  
Based a little on everything I read ( yeah kinda read a lot of fics up here, decided it would be nice to join in on the fun,  
might add a few pics and a few more stand alone stories later on)
> 
> Update schedule: Nope (this is fun, I got work// might go faster with a little support though *hint hint*)
> 
> That being said have fun

The room was a giant bright place, Windows lining both sides.  
Marble, expensive furniture and knick knacks, dark red curtains.  
Divided by the comfortable and expensive looking lounging area to the left - including, of course, a giant flat screen on the wall - the room also sported a kitchen - the finest Materials used only and cleaned to a t- as well as bookshelves and a small reading area to the right, next to the big ebony double doors.

Outside the sun was shining and the birds were singing, the windows showing a nicely kept garden to the back as well as an idea of the far-drawn-out driveway to the front.

Next to the couch ensemble of the lounging area was a golden bird cage inhabiting something that -to a stranger- might have seemed like a rich persons comment on vanitas - or ‘decay’ (in laments term).  
A humanoid appearing skeleton, only a little different because of its comparably thick bones and the mandible appearing to be fused to the rest of the skull.

Unmoving, sitting on a beanbag, blankly staring ahead it would have been easy to mistake it for a well made figurine, if it hadn’t been for the slight rise and fall of its chest as well as  
the occasional wandering of its dim eyelights.

Albeit not necessarily needing the oxygen, the boredom as well as his awful situation demanded him to do something and if the only semblance of freedom was breathing then he would breath all day long. 

The small skeleton with the permanent smile plastered on his face stared blankly ahead, eyelights dim, sitting nude with only a collar around his neck in his golden cage. 

No, small was his size before this! Being reduced to the size of his hand prior to leaving the underground, he could only refer to his physical form as  
…  
‘tiny’.

It has been a few month since Monsters were freed, but the barrier was broken with only 6 instead of the required 7 human souls, using the power of the monsters along with frisks, so no more sacrifices would have to be made.

What had started out as a blink of hope for him after all the times frisk hadn’t been able to save them, had become a nightmare to monsterkind pretty quick.

Humans upon hearing about their predicament had named him and the rest of shrunken monsterkind ‘bitties’,  
how… ‘cute’.

He huffed at the thought. Sans could feel his nonexistent guts churn.

Monster scientists had quickly gathered to find out how to fix this problem.  
Along with alphys and himself, it was speculated that the effect of the barrier could only be fixed if monsters were enabled to take in the magic of the surface. 

Only way to do that would be living along a surface creature to become accustomed to the new kind of magic through taking in some through their souls.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finding a ‘Soulmate’...?

Sans dreaded the thought right away, even considering asking the kid to take him in (at least it would be a familiar human?).  
But their connection was hardly a soulbond.  
Plus, they -along with Asgore and Toriel- had to make sure monsterkind was in no imminent danger after their arrival and... 

he could never have left Papyrus.

Well, until he agreed to let go of Papyrus, when Pap himself went with a hardly familiar human he felt a connection to.

A cook. 

They had their own restaurant and after getting to know them a little even Sans had to admit this human sounded right for his younger brother. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After exiting the underground, monsterkind was rehomed to so-called ‘bittycenters’, where humans took care of them following the kings and queens guidance.

Deciding to make their predicament known, they allowed humans into the centers, to help monsters find their soulmates.

Most humans however where simply lonely or came in search of entertainment, bitties soon becoming 

‘a thing’ 

as they called it.

So in short, actual soulbonds were rare to nonexistent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Which led to his predicament. 

As months passed and hardly any monster got out they decided to just leave with humans that felt right.  
Arno the waterhorse leaving with a fellow bodybuilder, catty and bratty finding their internet celebrity with a fashion and gossip blog and mettaton leaving with a beautyqueen that actually had a decent soul as well.

The latter happening pretty much to Papyrus’ dismay and encouraging his decision to leave with the cook.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At first Sans wanted to be happy for his brother, as they also agreed to come by to visit along with Papyrus every now and then but in the end it got more Painful for Sans everytime Papyrus came to visit.

Sans felt like a failure.

It was contradictory really, on one hand he wanted out so desperately, also being afraid something might happen to Papyrus without him.

On the other he found that Papyrus was getting around pretty well without him and even thinking about going with a human left Sans quivering in fear. 

Let alone actually finding a soulmate to become his normal size again as Sans was even less able to protect Papyrus in his current pitiful state.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His fear was not unjustified.

It was another timeline only frisk, him and the flower knew of but he could rightfully say he had seen the complete range of good and evil in one human.

Sure, Frisk had done… bad things.. only once in the beginning but he was unable to stop them.  
With their ability it was literal childsplay to get through the entire underground, so they could leave.

What brought upon the change of heart to come back and save them, he wasn’t sure and certainly didn’t want to ask.

But one fact remained:  
One kid had overrun the entire underground. 

A special kid, but nonetheless the smaller version of the now giganteus humans that were searching for a tiny partner (or in some cases just ‘small talking pets’).

He had made excuses for a while, pretending to nap every time someone was interested in the ‘rare skeleton’ and not even talked to his brother anymore.  
Leaving a note and shortcutting elsewhere every time he didn’t feel like explaining himself at all.

Even Frisk and the royals came by to check on him, he just shrugged their worries off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end he was simply fed up with all the fuzz about him and went with the next wealthy looking person, who could provide for him until he felt ready to dump them with a shortcut.

The woman wasn’t exactly what you’d call a bright cookie -even her soul was dull- she probably wouldn’t really mind him leaving.  
Not having to worry about money would mean the financial loss on her part was minimal as well, so you know, no hard feelings.

But oh my was he wrong.  
Ditching peoples worries he made his decision and firmly stuck with it.  
So after signing all the papers, it was off to wealthy food and a short time living arrangement for him. Laying back and falling asleep in the carrier, he got careless.  
Underestimating his new ‘caretakers’ mental (and financial) capacities, he woke in a cage, nude, aside from a collar around his neck.

That made him regret his decision real quick, so trying to fire up his magic he wanted to use a shortcut…  
but nothing happened.

He felt drained and hopeless.

Why didn’t he listen to the others worries.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That had been his life for a month (maybe?). His ‘caretaker’ or rather ‘owner’ as she called herself had made sure she knew the facts before getting that ‘rare’ skeleton bitty.  
Letting someone scope out his bare minimum needs while checking what she needed to do to prevent him from escaping.

Now he was a glorified pet, only allowed to talk when she wanted him to and without means to hide or properly rest -aside from a beanbag to sleep on- exposed and on open display in the middle of the giant living room of the mansion.

He was shown off to guests and gawked at not even able to hide his soul.  
Aside from baths to keep his bones a pristine white, he hardly ever was allowed out of the cage.  
His magic was replenished through the water and the only times he was allowed to eat something it was scraps of disgusting high quality food.  
Healthy food, ugh!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He felt himself dwindling, his hope slowly fading, when his owner came by with a necklace, a thin chain leash attached.

She cooed at him “Oh sweety, I have a nice place to bring you along to show off your beautiful bones”  
He knew objecting was pointless and running in his current state no option, so he played along.  
By now used to being on display, he only dreaded maybe seeing someone he knew. Knowing full well he could stumble into mettaton or his likes on one of her outings, it was degrading.  
Then again, he could think of a few monsters he might meet that knew him well enough to alarm someone to his... predicament?  
Would humans even do sth. since his owner is this wealthy?

Sitting on her shoulder at the gala, he let his eyes wander, lots of human headhonchos, women with nice clothing, some even a little.. boney.

He knew why humans were so fascinated with skeletons, they were kind of non magical squishy alternates of him and pap after all.  
The fascination was in no way one sided, but he had to worry about different things right now.

Suddenly he froze, a giant hand coming up to him.  
His owner giggled, having no issues allowing the stranger to touch him.  
He shuddered as the hand grabbed him, thumb running across his sensitive ribs, luckily only pushing down a little on his ribcage and cheekbones to feel how his bones were morphing.  
This happened only a few times before and made Sans freeze in shock everytime, afraid they might add too much pressure and ‘accidentally’ crush him.

“Fascinating” the human commented “and you’re saying the glowing thing in ‘his?’ chest is actually his soul?” Sans didn’t like where this was going “can you touch it?”  
His owner giggled “Yes, yes, you could, but they say it breaks quite easily, which would be a shame. I didn’t try it because of that. Maybe if I have a little more experience handling it.  
Oh and ‘it’ is quite fine you see, there’s nothing that really says it has a gender” she shrugged the shoulder he wasn’t standing on.

Sans was so startled by that dreadful prospect he didn’t even feel the worried looks being send his way from various places.  
That is until one of them started to make their way over.  
It was indeed Mettaton.

Sans froze as he saw Mettatons human making their way over. Eyelights searching metattons eyes he begged him ‘don’t’.  
The boisterous monster looked confused, but surprisingly.. understood.  
Instead of continuing he stopped his human and opted to get everyones attention instead, by simply being himself.

Sans let out a silent relieved sigh as he was no longer the center of attention and decided to rest his eye sockets for a while.

The evening went on with him being handled a few more times but in general being left alone as other bitties were far less boring and more talkative than him.  
His attention seeking owner no longer in the spotlight meant they went home rather early and he got to rest in the carrier.

Overall it could have been worse and it was nice to get out a little.  
Maybe someone would even help him now?  
Maybe there’s still hope?

He drifted away to sleep in his carrier that was strapped into a car seat oblivious to his owners frustration. 

Her calculating eyes rested on the carrier, expression far more sharp than sans could have ever expected, occasionally checking on her social media feeds via her phone.  
Maybe a priced chihuahua would still be more interesting than this boring little thing?  
At least they wouldn’t be as sad and lifeless as this so called ‘magical skeleton’. The other one she saw before was quite boisterous and interesting.  
This one was simply boring and only useful as a living prop due to its laziness.  
Which -tonight showed- wasn’t enough to get into the spotlight.

A signal to her driver, a quick stop at a back alley and a nice shower of sympathy from her fans later, the limousine pulled away with her vowing to do everything in her power to find him, directly heading for the police station to report her loss.

Completely at a loss Sans sat next to a trashcan, tired and exposed and not believing what just happened. He even heard her recording the message about his disappearance for her social media accounts, before she closed her window and the car took off.

For a moment he just sat there, puddles from the rain slowly getting bigger while he processed his ‘owners’ behaviour. No this was neither a joke, nor a dream if his clammy cold bones were any indication.  
He was free.  
And lost.  
Without magic, clothing, food or any place to keep safe  
all  
by  
his  
-tiny- self.

What the f….

The tiny white bones in stark contrast to the dark and rainy night, his fight or flight instinct luckily kicked in, before any of the few humans visible in the distance could make him out.  
Yes, he wanted a roof over his skull, but no, with his magic still blocked by the collar he’d be damned to trust another fleshbag, thank you very much!

Instead his little feet carried him deeper into the hardly lit dirty alley, ‘til the darkness had swallowed him completely.


	2. Down in the Dumps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sans has an itty bitty sh... ehm, bad time with humans and damnit Papyrus you dork!  
Feauturing some growing and shrinking stuff, some action and exhaustion. Sans can't use his magic, so he has to actually move..

It has been 3 days, since he had been abandoned. Down in that same alley, Sans has been living off of Scraps. Through dumpster diving he had found himself some clothing and food but in turn got himself tangled up In some junk.  
Unsurprisingly skeleton anatomy doesn't mix well with human hair, chewing gum and strings.

Looking over his food rations he sighed and let himself fall on his makeshift bed consisting out of package foam and socks. It was pretty comfy and hidden in a small crevice in the Wall even relatively safe.  
For a moment he lay there listening to the cars honking and people shouting and arguing. It currently was rush hour, he had observed this phenomenon during his time at the bitty center, humans were all trying to get home at the same time.  
This gave him a few hours to rest, not sleep, mind you, he couldn't afford to waste any more nights.

After a short rest he got to work on the tangled mess between his toes as well as at his throat. He had found a small mirror to see better and a razor blade to cut the more persistent messes.

Even what he 'saw' in the mirror didn't faze him anymore.  
The first time he used the mirror for this had left him quite self conscious. The grime and that makeshift poncho (a thin cloth he had managed to make a hole into) weren't even the worst.  
What really had him worried was the color of his bones and the tiredness of his eyes. He promised Papyrus they'd be together again, but damn did he dread even the idea to check his soul.

Being unable to use magic put an additional strain on him, because he had to move everywhere by foot.  
He even considered trying to cut the collar with the razor blade but deemed it to dangerous, since it was so close to his throat.  
Still he needed to keep an eye socket on his magic level, since food with magic was rather sparse.  
What he had been coming across most of the time surprisingly was ketchup of all things.

Which he found out wasn't all that much of a coincidence, when he came across the first flyer for Papyrus' restaurant that had one package glued into as a freebie.

It brought tears to his eyes realizing his little bro hadn't given up on him with every ketchup package seemingly glued into the flyers by hand.  
The hope that Paps restaurant shouldn't be too far off gave him strength after what had happened.  
The flyer sporting his brothers image announced 'The grand reopening of the Restaurant', which, from what he could tell, was in a few days.  
He was happy and proud for his brother and more than excited, at the prospect of seeing him again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Only Problem was he hadn't known where he was, so the small map the flyer provided hadn't been very helpful. Until he found there's a map at each bus station.  
All of yesterday as well as today had been spent gathering supplies for his journey.  
Since he had to travel light that meant dinner, magic rations (ketchup), a few knick knacks (like yarn and a pin), a bottle cup, a thin plastic bag and a piece of package foam as a cushion.  
While dumpster diving he had determined he would come across everything else he needed the next dumpster.

The hardest thing was to keep as many ketchup packages as he could, so he had magic food in case he needed it. At first he was tempted to down everything he found in one go, but he decided he couldn't waste his chance, as hard as reality was.  
Luckily the magic instilled in the food meant he could go a little longer without human contact, which didn't mean he was completely without options.

He had spotted a homeless guy with an old dog across the road he could recharge on a few hours tonight. The guy seemed pretty out of it during the night, sleeping well into the afternoon. Taking advantage of someone else's misery didn't feel nice but if he managed to get to Papyrus he would find a way to make it up to him.

Deeming his bones sufficiently untangled, he put the razor blade into the plastic bag for tonight and laid back down staring out of his hiding place through the crevice in the wall.  
He believed Papyrus hadn't given up on him and he would try everything just to make it back to his brother.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Night came and while he wasn't too happy at the thought of having to move a lot, he knew the darkness gave him an advantage. Aside from the streets being almost empty he knew his eyesight gave him an edge over the humans during the night.  
He set off as soon as he had dinner, making it out of the alley and to his first stop (the sleeping homeless guy) within time. Now he had 3 hours to kill, resting on the guys neck.

Truthfully it smelled bad and he wasn't all that keen on getting that close to a human, but the guys soul wasn't really bad aside from not having much hope.  
It felt relaxing to feel the surface magic being translated into his own and gave him a lot more energy than even two packages of ketchup could manage.  
The only hard part was he couldn't allow himself to fall asleep.  
Luckily the dog the human had with him wasn't bad either, old enough not to wake up from his smell the canine reminded him a little of the dogs from the underground. His light snoring and the occasional fart making him grin a little.

By the time he decided to move on it had been well past midnight and the streets were almost devoid of life. The flickering light of one of the streetlights giving the scenery a peaceful but eerie feeling.  
The whole street was lined with a sidewalk on both sides along 6 story houses next to them with the occasional light in the window. He had a wild guess how many humans there must be when they first were brought into the bittycenters but seeing the streets lined with living space and hardly any green aside from the occasional small front yard behind a fence sure put things into perspective. Especially if the even bigger buildings in the distance were any indication.  
It was absurd, this city was huge to a regular monster, to his diminished form it was nothing but scary. The most crazy part was Paps was out there and doing well, well enough to be able to worry about his lost bigger brother.  
Man his brother was awesome!

Even if Sans knew he couldn't compare to his awesome sibling, he had made a promise and while generally hardly making an effort, he takes those very seriously.  
The rest of the night luckily went by pretty uneventful and he made it to a bus stop. Clinging to the exhaust pipe of the bus taking him two blocks closer to his destination (luckily being a skeleton he wasn't that sensitive to heat).  
When he reached his stop it was still dark, but there were more humans on the street now, so he scurried to the next back alley he could spot.

Another 2 nights and he would be home free he celebrated.

His small hopeful rush making him careless as a crow swept down while he passed the corner of the alley he picked. Shocked, he ran a little further from the corner than intended and almost got stomped by a human guy that came out of the alley.  
The crow irritated the guy when it almost collided with him, the tall and slender human waving his arms and stumbling backwards, shouting profanities at the bird. Feet trampling around Sans, he stopped and ducked his head in fear, fully believing this was it, when he heard a flop next to him. His eyes darting to the human guy that fell on his behind, just in time to see their phone fly by.  
Sans couldn't believe his luck, until he noticed the phone next to him with a picture of him sitting on the hand of his previous 'owner' on a webpage with news articles. Fearful his eyes snapped back to the human next to him, who was moving his hand into the direction of his phone but suddenly froze.

Eyes locked with the human, he saw the humans face light up in recognition, his grin starting to spread. Sans flight instinct hit him like a truck, when he darted to the next hiding place he could spot, a large trash container that luckily stood close to the entry of the street.  
The human got his phone and scrambled up giving chase right away and only missing him by a hair. 

"C'mon little guy, ya don't wanna get back to your owner?!" the human bargained.  
"I can take you back, won't take long and we'll both get something out of it."  
Sans eyes were trained on the guys feet, when he stalked around the container, trying to push it. He saw him trying to lean down a few times but deciding against it, as the ground around the container was dirty and littered with glass.  
"shit" the human cursed "aren't you things supposed to be smart?! On the news they say, you understand human language.."

"Here" He held his phone down showing what looked to be his crying previous 'owner' next to a missing poster, with a big sum of money underneath "See, she's missing you a lot. Can't believe you wouldn't want to get back, I mean look at her, she's hot and has lots of money."

Sans swallowed with dread at this new information, not only was he a rarity to most humans, now he had what seemed like a substantial price on his head judging by how this human reacted.

His persecutor trying in vain for a few times to get to him again and kicking the container out of frustration Sans' soul raced until a few other humans passed, noticing this humans behaviour and he let up for now, cursing under his breath. Sans knew the human wasn't letting up out of fear, but more likely out of greed, worrying he'd have to share the money if someone noticed his find.

Besides, the human knew during the day Sans couldn't really get far and seeing how much of a scare he gave him, the human gave a low chuckle when he left, plugging his earphones back in whispering "later, dude" with malice and arrogance seeping through his voice.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans carefully got to the corner of the container to get a better look at the alley, noticing horrified he had ended up in a death trap without any other hiding places in sight.  
He hung his head, he didn’t have the energy for this.  
The scare and his night time excursion had left him exhausted, he got out one ketchup package and slurped, finding some news paper to sit on in the back side of his hideout and sighed. He'd have to find a better hiding place but this new information told him it would be a whole lot harder than it already was to progress from now on.

He rested his eyes, figuring it would be easier to think, once he had calmed down, not noticing how he slowly drifted off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A sudden loud bang made him wake up with a start, looking around frantically, he heard some men chatting loudly and noises he couldn't quite place. When he saw orange legs and dirty boots coming up to his hiding place he followed their movement wide eyed, suddenly remembering the working outfits, 'garbage collection'! his mind provided.  
Looking at the guys pant legs he noticed they had rolled them up.  
Without a second thought, he scrambled up, taking a ketchup package and darted to catch his ride clinging to a shoe underneath one of the guys' rolled up pant legs.  
The noise and their distraction through work and chatter making them unaware of their stowaway.  
Sans braced himself the vertigo making him feel nauseous, but glad he had no stomach, he had seen what vertigo did to humans, when he had picked up frisk making her fly around as sort of an therapeutic action, spoiler alert, it wasn't pretty.

Comparing his size to the guys shoe, he clung to, and his ketchup package sans noticed he had shrunken down a little since this morning. He clung on for dear life the next two stops, getting off to hide underneath the next respective dumpster after they had emptied it.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
In the early afternoon when the traffic died down he made his way over to a new hiding place he had scoped out in the morning, a narrow gap between two buildings.  
At arrival, he could see it led to the next alley and provided enough room for him to lie down, while being too narrow for anything bigger than a rat.

Just how small was he now? He hadn't shrunken down any more before, so he had no idea what caused this.

His worries were interrupted by a sudden yawn. On the up side he was small enough to fit in his new hiding place easily. Spreading the piece of newspaper he had brought along he used his ketchup package as a cushion and folded the newspaper on top of him to cover himself completely. Hoping rats weren't interested in skeletons and ketchup too much, he fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The incident was two weeks ago now.

What Sans hoped, would only slow him down turned out to become a hopeless endeavor.

He had managed to make it to his brothers restaurant, but true to his brothers character it was a big event. Sans could hear him from afar, greeting his guests and making an announcement. Papyrus asked his customers, to keep an eye out for his brother and tell him if they saw him.  
But what he had to hear after made Sans’ soul sink.  
Papyrus took a deep breath “Seeing pictures of him on the news,”.. Papyrus voice faltered and he stopped for a moment “unlike what people were lead to believe, despite not moving much, my brother loves his freedom” he coughed “not so much being free of clothes” he added silently, staring to the side squinting his eyes “he may not be a skeleton, of the great chef papyrus’ standards and an incredible lazybones, but I assure you he would have never agreed to such a treatment willingly. So please if you see him, don’t try to catch him, tell him to stay where he is and I will come to pick him up. I know..” he paused again “I know there is a lot of money in the mix and I can see how there’s people who need it, but please, he is the only family I have left, I believe in you, humans, please, we are not pets and he has been through a lot, just tell me when you see him.” he got a little solemn at the end.  
“Now, I don’t believe he would want me to falter, so without further delay, welcome to the grrrand reopening of the Monsters Lounge, welcome dear humans, Nyeheheh!”

Sans listened from the dumpster across the street, leaving his hiding place as he was drawn in by his brothers emotional speech. His soul desperately reaching out to his younger sibling, he didn’t notice the humans searching around, until a hand tried to grab him, the body attached to it being tackled against the wall the last second.  
Startled he looked up at the guy pushing the one who tried to grab him into the wall locking eyes with him shortly before avoiding being grabbed by another human last second and making a dash for a small crevice underneath the dumpster. He heard them attacking the guy that saved him before a commotion started and the attackers ran off. From his hiding place he heard the start of a loud discussion, humans arguing whether or not they should catch him and a mob starting to form. 

Man there must be a lot of money on his capture.  
Eventually police bulged in and led everyone away, one of the policemen faltering for a moment when they heard what the commotion was about. But a colleague convinced him to do his job and off they were.

Sans stayed hidden well into the night when he heard a familiar voice.  
“Sans?! Sans! Are you there?!” Sans jumped up and ran towards his brothers voice. When he saw big boots in front of the Container, he slowed down for a moment. His brother, he was his normal size again?! This must be a weird dream. Maybe all of it was?! 

But he couldn’t afford to let this chance pass. He took in a deep breath to shout for his brother to wait, jogging towards him and allowing his soul to cling to the hope to be with him again, when he heard a hiss from right next to him.  
There was a giant rat underneath this dumpster that must have been startled to hide by his brother peeking underneath. So instead of running forward to his brother, Sans turned heel, screaming for help.

For a moment Papyrus stopped and Sans could feel his soul reaching out. But then he heard the human who was with him “You’ve been searching for him for a while now Papyrus, you need some rest. The leads we had so far always turned out to be mean pranks. I’m sure Sans is still alive and a good human will find him, we just have to believe.”

Sans heard from the depth of the crevice in the wall how his brother sighed “I know you are right human Mark, but I had hoped this time they were right seeing as some of our friendly customers have reported, how the human Jimmy has seen him”

Sans was close to tears “No, no, no, don’t go brother!” taking a deep breath “Papyrus, help!!” he desperately shouted “I’m here! Don’t go”, ducking away from the rat, Sans didn’t even notice, how his shouts were drowned out by some random passing police sirens.

This had to be a dream, a nightmare, he was so close. For a moment Sans wanted to try dashing past the rat ignoring the risks. But the moment was gone his soul close to a breaking point, when he felt Papyrus getting further away, being too weak to properly reach out to him.

The rat didn’t stay very long after, leaving Sans sobbing and shaking ‘til he passed out from exhaustion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hushed whispers in front of his hideout slowly woke him up, loud rumbling and screeching making him whince. But it didn’t matter, he got so close, he got close and he failed again, his bones felt frail. Overnight his poncho had become more of a big blanket and he just wanted to sleep. He vaguely felt a hand reaching in “Dude, what if there’s a rat in there” came a harsh whisper assumingly from behind the person reaching in.  
For a moment he considered reaching out to the hand, the soul didn’t feel so bad, but he couldn’t be bothered to try. He just felt too tired.  
His eyes closed and he drifted off again.  
His sleep dreamless and heavy.

When he woke it was to a sunny day, so he decided to get up. Digging himself out of his poncho, he noticed he had become smaller yet again but he still didn’t know if any of the things he remembered where real or just a dream. He dragged the cloth along, despite it being too big for him now. Carefully peeking outside he noticed no humans around, but a few flyers were left under the dumpster. He scrambled over to them and inside where packages of ketchup, as hungry as he was he immediately went over to the closest one and tried to open it, but being only slightly bigger than a package himself he lacked the strength. Looking around he quickly found a glass shard.  
This time he didn’t hold back, feeling hungry and drained he slurped up all of the packages. Normally he’d go back to sleep after a good amount of ketchup, but he couldn’t afford it...  
So far sleeping hadn’t done him much good. What’s more the street sounded fairly quiet.

He made his way outside, beginning what he couldn’t have expected to become a cat and mouse game with humans.  
Spending the next one and a half weeks running from mad humans, finding that the best place to hide from humans ironically was close to humans, more specifically homeless people, where he was also able to recharge. Between hiding in small crevices in the wall, underneath or behind dumpsters, being able to recharge made him grow again, which was good, but reaching his former bittysize came with a prize as he was more easily spotted.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So when rush hour began the last two horrific weeks had taught him to hide away and stay hidden, just like today.

Dumpster diving had left him tangled up again in the same filth as before. So Fighting to at least free his feet and throat in his seemingly safe hideout, he was so busy, he didn’t hear anyone getting closer, instead managing to get tangled up even more.

Noticing he wasn’t helping his situation, he tried to calm down, but his right arm had been tied to his chest, while his left wrist had caught onto his right foot. He was about to carefully remove his left wrist, when he finally registered a human talking.

He froze instantaneously..

It..  
didn’t sound nice..

Sans was tense, wondering if he finally messed up.  
Not a moment later the Situation literally came crashing down onto him.  
Tied down, hardly able to move he stared up at a human, that stared at him with the equal amount of shock written on their face.  
The guy had been kicked onto his hideout effectively tossing the trash can Sans had hidden behind aside.  
Being on his side, supporting his upper body with his left arm the humans eyes quickly flew between Sans and the people behind his own back.

Sans however didn’t move but silently cursed the universes’ awful timing.  
He just stared up, with empty eye sockets..  
He was tired, just so tired of this..  
He needed his shortcuts back...  
like, RIGHT NOW!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Too tired to check for continuity, read at your own risk.  
Also mind the topic isn't exactly light hearted, despite it not crossing certain lines.


	3. Still some fight left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things happen.  
Some fighting and pain.   
Also reader finally makes an entrance. Might add some more description to him. 
> 
> Or just wait for the next chapter.
> 
> Warnings: semi-graphic violence  
(Not too indepth though)
> 
> Sorry if it feels a little rushed. Comments are greatly appreciated.  
Til the next one, then.

Sans looked him up quickly, noticing the flyers of his bros restaurant toppling from his bag. ‘Wait a minute’ he thought mustering his face, he had seen this guy before, he was the one who tackled the other man into the wall the other day.  
“Well, well, well” came a voice from behind the guy and Sans froze, recognizing the second guys voice. It was the first guy who had tried to catch him after he had been abandoned, the one who got pushed into the wall.

Sans involuntarily shivered, a barely audible rattle could be heard. Seems the tables had turned, he couldn't see the other guy yet but seeing the tall guy in front of him holding his side he argued this might not end well.

Sans and the guy in front of him locked eyes again, both fearful.  
For a moment the flyerguy seemed to consider something, when in an outburst he suddenly grabbed for Sans.  
Uneasy and surprised by the sudden jolt, Sans struggled at first, even if he didn't dare raise his voice because of the second guy.  
Scratching and gnawing out of instinct he hoped the flyerguy would just let him go.  
He felt him wince at some of the damage but was still held firmly against his chest by one hand.  
Then the footsteps behind his keptor registered and Sans felt him tense. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You had been searching for the little guy for weeks.   
However, the being who locked eyes with you after you had (apparently) crashed their home due to being kicked, made your heart stop for a Moment.

Aside from being in the worst place at the worst time his appearance was pitiful.   
When you last saw him, it was for a short Moment and there was a lot more distance between you, then.  
Seeing him now, so close by, you could see how tangled up in junk he was, wearing a poncho made from a dirty napkin and his bones far less white than you remembered.

Even being this small you were sure you saw recollection flash over his features, after he looked at you for a moment and a second time when your attacker raised his voice.

Yeah, he tensed quite a bit at that. Struggling to move away but getting tangled even more in hair and whatever turned him into a sad and frightened junk burrito.

The shadow closing in behind you made you freeze for a second, pondering your options.  
Really, there weren't any, though.

If the guy saw him he'd be caught for sure this time.  
In the spur of the Moment, you grabbed for the little guy, before he could be spotted.

Then you whinced, not so much at the pain (though you would be sure to disinfect that, should you survive), but more at the Panik implied by the effort the small frame put up despite his obvious limitations.  
Being grabbed out of nowhere in a dangerous Situation does that, you supposed.

Still, despite your heart giving a pang at that and your internal stream of 'I'm sorry', you couldn't let go now.  
In contrary, you held him as close as you could to your chest, hoping he wouldn't make a sound and get spotted.

That's when you heard the heavy footstep behind you and went rigid, the only warning you and the little guy got, before a sickening pain shot through your back.  
For a Moment the pain didn't register properly, being kicked multiple times every time your body shot you a warning about the damage, more damage was added.  
At risk to pass out due to sensory overload, you held on by the skin of your teeth.  
Thankfully any struggling the little guy put up before ceased, when the first kick to your rip was heard.

You clung to conscience, holding him close, while panting, hissing and sobbing from the pain.  
Every kick drawing exhausted yelps of pain from you.

Then it suddenly stopped.  
Cautiously you turned your head to investigate, but you could feel the chill in the air before the dark, vicious snicker even escaped the sick guys mouth.

“You know, costing me 100 grand is one thing, but throwing me into a wall?!“ he drew back his foot “You. Got. To. Be.“ he punctuated every word with a kick.  
Then he lifted his foot over your ribcage “DENSE“ he growled bringing it down with enough force to finally break something.  
The pain was unbearable, clinging to conscience making you into a babbling, writhing mess. Your only coherent thought at that moment 'don't let go!' ..of conscience?, ..the little guy? ..hope?  
At this point you didn't know.

Being beside yourself you started to beg “no, pl.. please, ss.. stop.. I.. h. Hah, huff, hu..“ but since even breathing was hard at this point you decided to stop begging drawing in shaky and short breaths.

Another two voices snickering in the background, when your attacker grinned down at you.  
Straightening up and turning around to his two followers, he tucked at his jacket, tsking at you and slowly walking to his comrades. 

The Adrenalin shot right through you, when you noticed his steps leaving your side. Listening intently you bit your time. And your lip, the air was tense even without him knowing what you kept hidden and you didn't want to risk any more danger for the little guy.

You knew these kinds of guys though. Waiting for his dramatic pause to end you pretended to curl up from the pain to get a better look at the small skeleton, not much pretending needed here, though. 

As soon as he “You know…“ he interrupted your thought 'ah, there we go, giving you a speech. Grandiose' you almost had to snicker at that.

Turning your attention back to the little guy in your left hand you angled your head and hand so you could see him properly.  
Your gaze instantly being met by two frightened and worried looking eyelights.  
Damn his face was expressive for being made out of bone, you kind of wanted to poke it. You shook your head a little wiping that goofy smile at that thought off your face (yeah you were close to dilirium).  
Taking a deep breath you decided to address Sans directly...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Literally being kept in the dark the entire time, Sans stilled as soon as the first kicks landed on the flyerguys rips. What was he doing?!  
Sure humans could be nice, protective even, but this. This was bordering on insane.

He whinced along every kick until there was a pause and he felt him shift.  
Surely the other guy would be done now, right?!  
Humans were killing each other at times but this was rather rare, right? Not that he held any feelings for his keptor, but he didn't feel like sticking around doing nothing while he got killed, either.

Then his keptor tensed again and Sans could practically hear the small cracks to his rips forming on every kick.  
Finally a kick from above to the side of his rips broke something all the way. The agony streamed from his keptors soul in waves, even making him beg and writhe in it before stopping and drawing in shaky breaths.

Sans eyelights were pinpricks by now, the closeness to the flyerguys soul making the waves of pain coming from it sickening and his own soul stutter.  
'Run! get away! do something!' he wanted to yell, his helplessness in the Situation reminding him of bad times.

That's when the other guy moved away and sure enough after a Moment Sans was carefully brought back into the light.

Flyerguys expression was weird, even though there was pain and fear clearly on his face Sans was sure he saw a delirious glint of amusement in there before the guy shook his head slightly.

Then he said something to him.  
Barely a whisper and laced with pain it was hard to make out, due to the speech the other guy gave.  
Sans narrowed his eyes „what?!“ he squeaked due to the mess around his throat making it hard to talk.

The flyerguy got a little closer, feigning to curl into himself more from agony.

That's when Sans heard it “why don't you get away?! You know.. go poof?“  
The guys eyes quickly shot over to the three bad humans. “Quick, before they..“  
Sans tucked on his hand to get his attention and gestured to his collar.

Flyerguys eyes shot open wider in realization. Sans knew his former 'owner' never took his collar off, not even for fotos, so the human might have caught his drift.  
Sure enough his eyes zeroed in on the offending item and his right hand came closer to Sans' neck.

Sans flinched involuntarily having the guys fingernails so close to some of his most fragile bones.

The human stopped shortly, searching his eyes for consent.  
Sans leant his skull to the side allowing for easier access.  
Wasting no time, flyerguy got to work, fiddling with the button to undo the collar.

Sans' soul gave a hopeful surge at that, his magic roiling through his body waiting for sweet release.  
Freedom so close Sans started to sweat and shake nervously.  
That's when he heard the bad guy turning towards them again.  
Glaring in his general direction his thoughts bordered on anger, his magic seething when his eyelights erased 'don't. You. Dare.'  
He thought threateningly. Whether it was aimed at the bad guy or at fate in general, he was fed up with being a helpless bystander.  
That's when he heard a click.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was nerve wracking to see the little skeleton almost panicking before allowing you access to the collar. From what you could gather this must be the reason he couldn't do all the things his brother told you about.  
There was a surge of anger making your pain subside for a second, but you had a task to finish and needed to concentrate.

The collar was small, but the mechanism rather easy. You just needed to press two buttons on top and below in… using your fingernails,.. without scratching the skeletons seemingly already sensitive throat.. pfft, no big deal.

The cold sweat dripped from your forehead.. 'easy'..  
Sans shifted a little, the angle making your nail slip just in the right way so the dumb thing finally clicked.  
You celebrated internally, now you only had to worry about yourself getting out of this.  
That's when you noticed Sans magic flaring up, only a moment before you registered the shadow looming behind you.

Then everything happened in a flash, the bad guy noticed Sans, grinning greedily. Sans sneered back at him angrily and when the guy grabbed for him, he was shot with some kind of laserblast, before you could even react.

Confused your eyes shot over to Sans, seeing a glowing animal skull disappearing from next to him and one of his eyes seemingly aflame with a confident grin on his face.  
Well, that happened. You stared dumbfoundedly, before a few packages of ketchup hit you in the face.  
“Drink those and run!“ Sans shouted at you, panting.   
You furrowed your brows for a second 'yuck' you thought, but did as you were told and stumbled to your feet, devouring three packages after ripping them open with your teeth.

Limping away at first, with Sans suddenly on your shoulder to look over your back, you notice how the pain slowly subsides into a tingling feeling where it hurt most, before.  
You get faster the more the pain subsides and before long you find yourself running, with Sans clinging to your neckline.

Relief washes over you when Sans finally looks to the front sighing and easing up, only to have him almost fall off, when he can't steady himself due to being tangled.

Despite him slightly grumbling at it, you decide to carry him in your hands for safety purposes.

Two blocks further and you finally reach your home, fiddling with the keys to the house and your apartment you only allow yourself rest as soon as your inside.

Closing the door and leaning against it, to catch your breath, you gather yourself for a moment.

Then you kick your shoes off and tumble towards the couch.   
Putting Sans down on the coffee table you let yourself just drop on your couch from exhaustion and relief.

Hazily looking towards the just as exhausted skeleton, you take off your beanie and put it next to him, hoping he would catch onto your idea.  
Then you just pull up your blanket, sigh into your pillow and drift off to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans watched his saviour, when he puts his beanie next to him, the human making himself comfy and being out like a light.

Normally Sans was more cautious and would at least investigate the place, but he was too exhausted himself.  
He looked over to the still warm beanie and shrugged, he had slept in worse. Shuffling/hopping over he climbed inside, sighing at the warmth.  
He was still tangled up somewhat but he had slept in worse Situations, this was fine.  
No, actually this was an improvement, he hoped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lots of work right now, tried to end this one on not as much of a cliffhanger.  
I'm currently an 'surprise-there's-a-new-chapter' kind of writer, but I'm happy about any support :)


	4. A curious development

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *will add Later   
Slightly sad angst emotionally in between. Fluff too
> 
> Sorry for the long wait

Sunlight was filtering through the curtains while a slight breeze came from the cracked window.  
The slightly messy room was tinged in the warm colours of the morning sun.

Sizzling could be heard from the kitchen, that was only separated from the living room by a counter.   
The smell of bacon and eggs as well as spaghetti filling the air.  
Standing against the kitchen counter, in the living room, was the couch that sported a coffee table in front of it. A few metres from the couch on the far wall was the TV, it had a small cupboard underneath as well as Windows to the left and right. 

On the right side wall was a bookshelf, on the left another cupboard.  
Altogether a nice and cosy living room.

A living room feeling increasingly more homely through the smell of food in the morning.  
The small skeleton started to drool in his sleep.  
Unbeknownst to you, giving off the most adorable picture, by tugging at the beanie serving as a makeshift sleeping bag.

Slowly coming to, Sans revelled in the smell, he was so cosy and it reminded him of home.   
Sleepily he rubbed at his sockets, muttering something in his half asleep state.

" Good morning " you greeted  
" morning pap " he slurred.  
That made you snort slightly.  
" uhm, sorry uh, Sans...“

He looked around still not quite wake. Then you could see the dizziness leaving him and awareness creep in.

He seemed cautious and Confused at first, until he looked up at you.  
For a second there was fear in his eyes until he seemed to recollect what had happened.

" hello, there! " you greeted again.

" hey, uh.. buddy! " he greeted back nervously waving at you. His voice was hoarse, no doubt from the strings around his neck, a bead of sweat running down his skull.

His gaze said it all, he recognised you, but trust would have to be hard earned.  
But you could empathise, seeing a giant face hovering above you would freak you out as well.  
You carefully sat down on the couch, putting the food you brought on the far end of the table for now.

Trust or not, you had to help him with his tangled up bones before he could even eat.

“So, you want to eat like that or do you want some help?“  
You commented on his attempts to free himself from whatever hair, string and filth was still stuck to his joints.  
"Uh.." was his eloquent answer and he looked up at you helpless and insecure, searching your expression for an answer.

You smiled as friendly as you could manage.

"How?!" He rasped skeptically.   
"With this" you leaned forward grabbing your nail scissors and holding it up in a safe distance for him to see.

The glint of metal seemed to make him jump for a second, then he looked at it more closely and pondered.  
"I'm just gonna hold and open and close it, you put whatever you want cut in between." You provided.

He grumbled, still skeptical "what if you twitch?"

“I have very steady hands." You challenged proudly, meeting his sceptical gaze.  
He held your gaze and didn't flinch. You sighed."or you could do it yourself." You put the scissors down next to him.

There was exhaustion clear in his posture, but he needed to get rid of the stuff he was tangled in to eat.  
Looking up at you with uncertainty, he hopped/ walked over to the scissors. You sat back passively, your soul screaming at you to help him, but you held fast, observing and waiting which felt bad, because he clearly needed help.  
Still you respected his decision.

At first he opened the scissors and used them to simply rip the easier tangles on his arms and feet.  
It was clearly straining and he occasionally looked up at you, but you were sure it wasn't to ask for assistance but mostly to check you still didn't move.

He started to get somewhere, his arms and legs were mostly free when he tried to figure out how to get his neck free.  
These tangles actually had been there for the longest and had started to dig into his spine a while ago. Since they were so tight around his cervical vertebrae, he never had a way to cut them.   
The problem was they made it hard to speak even more so eat.  
As his only diet consisted of ketchup for the longest time it wasn't that much of a problem, but he knew he needed sustenance badly. Since he had used some magic, helping you, when you saved him, sleeping and ketchup could only do so much.

Now, he stood there, holding the scissors with his shaky magic and stubbornly tried to solve this conundrum. Trying to cut something he couldn't see that was so close to one of his most sensitive spots.

The human trembled in their seat clearly tense, most probably since they were afraid he could slip.  
He felt the same. Attempting for the fifth time and dropping the scissors exhausted, he noticed his conscience fading too late. Wavering and fighting to keep standing he stumbled, his magic protesting to stay awake.  
His stubbornness and fear had made him unable to feel his exhaustion properly, so using his magic on top drained him. He fainted without a warning, seeing the human grabbing for him in a panic before everything turned black.

You observed his failing attempts at freeing his neck with growing worry and considered offering him a mirror, when you saw him stumble back a few steps.  
His eyelights hazy, he shortly glanced up at you with a notion of worry, but also the smallest plead for help in his expression.  
Then his eyelights went dark, sockets closed and he fell backwards.  
Just in time you caught him, before he could hit the table.

At first you tried to wake him up again by poking and stroking him gently, asking him softly if he was okay.  
Getting no reaction you became concerned looking closer at him.  
Luckily he was still moving but breathing (?) strained.  
His face morphed into a pained expression you decided to go against his wishes not to be helped. This was an emergency you decided, only half sorry you could finally help. 

Also despite knowing what he went through there was a little bit of curiosity, the insistent urge to look at him more closely and feel his bones. While it was simply your nature, your human curiosity, you still felt bad about it and promised you would only do what was necessary.   
Inspecting him in order to find what needed to be done to help him, gathering as much from it as you could in case you needed the information to help him at some other time.

He slowly came to to a warm and soft feeling around him and a snipping sound. There was a slight tug at his cervical vertebrae, his eyes shot open. Panicking he wanted to shove whatever was touching him away but noticed he was rolled up in some kind of blanket, making it impossible to move his arms.  
Rolled up like a burrito his eyes frantically searched for the offender, locking eyes with you staring down at him worried.  
He wanted to shout at you "Wha.. re y.." but he had to caugh. Quickly you freed him from his burrito, watching his coughing fit with concern.  
He stumbled to his legs, still coughing and struggling to keep at least one eye on you.

You backed of as much as you could. "Hey, calm down, easy there." You said. But he noticed only now, that he was nude, his crude dirty clothes taken off.

Worried you saw his eye come aflame "W… wait let me ex.."  
But he was already covered in blue magic. Instead of disappearing however, he just stumbled again, groaning strained and just in time leaning on a soft surface that luckily appeared behind him.  
Flopping back, after his coughing fit was over, he blearily looked up with unfocused eyelights.  
More magic drained 'great' he thought.

Unbeknownst to him his 'bed' moved closer to your face.  
For a moment he just lay there, deciding tiredly to simply accept his fate, relishing in the warmth from underneath.  
Then he heard the loud whisper from real closeby "hey, c'mon, stay with me now."  
He froze for a moment, looking over to his left insecurely. Recognizing your giant face he stiffened and wanted to say something, but just coughed again, tears pricking at the corner of his eyesockets.

There was worry written all over your face, he could tell, but then "w.. why?!" He rasped hoarse from overexertion as well as fear.  
He averted his eyes hurt and you couldn't help but swallow the lump in your throat forming at his pain.

"I.. uh,, I got almost all of it cut, but.. I think that stuff on your neck. It uh, may have been caught between your joints, so I didn't want to risk pulling too hard. Uhm.. are you hurt, I mean is your neck okay aside from the tangle?"

He looked at you funny, trying to process this new information. You tried to free him? So why immobilizing him? Why undress him completely?  
He shook his head slowly sitting up.  
Never mind that now he thought. Cautiously he tugged at the string on his throat. He winced, you were right it was stuck between his joints pretty good.  
"I got something that might help" you said, slowly setting him down.  
He watched you walk away, feeling the string on this throat, lost in thought.   
Then he stopped for a moment, looking at his hands and checking on the rest of his body. Aside from a little chewing gum between his feet and the string on his throat you actually had managed to free him. And yeah, there had been stuff between his ribs and other beforehand not exposed areas.  
So maybe you really were trying to help?

A moment later you returned with a small mirror.  
Propping it against your glass, you let him have a look.  
He looked up at you skeptically, then turned his attention to the mirror.  
Ignoring the fact his soul was beating nervously behind his discolored bones, he started to work on his neck.  
He could manage to loosen the string but couldn't get it completely off. Glancing over to the scissors, then looking up at you, he averted his eyelights at your eager expression.  
Finally he sighed, looking straight at you, he motioned with one hand to cut the string, while leaning his skull to the side, pulling away the string as much as he could with the other hand.

Happily you obliged. When you approached him carefully with the scissors he closed his eyes rattling nervously.   
A few snips later and he let out a shaky breath pulling the last string from his throat. Relieved he sat down watching the offending scissors finally retreat.

He knew he would be sore for a while, but finally feeling his neck freed from all that strain made him take a few relaxed breaths.   
His break was cut short, though. The smell of food slowly made reality creep back in and his soul betrayed him giving a hungry growl. 

Somewhat embarrassed he looked up at you to see your smug but curious expression. Yeah he had seen that before, human curiosity. You were no doubt wondering how eating worked for him and he sighed at that. Instead of bombarding him with questions however, he saw you suppressing that urge the second it crept up and reaching for the food and a small thimble of water.  
Giving him the water you furrowed your brows at the food. He took the water and upon a quick check of your face decided he didn't care if it was poisoned, he had no other option anyways.  
Greedily gulping down a few sips, he gave it back to you empty, shortly after. Catching another glimpse of fascination before you quickly refilled and gave him back the thimble.  
Of course there was that curiosity again, he was nude, whatever he drank or ate was just gone to the human eye.

You wanted to say something, but instead decided to refill his water a few times until he was letting out a satisfied sigh.  
Letting him take his time to just breathe freely, you observed him and waited patiently to ensure he didn't get spooked again.  
After a while he looked up at you.  
Eyelights quickly glancing over to the food still in your hand. Before he could ask anything though, you put it down right next to him "it, uh.. it's still a little warm, but if you want me to reheat it, I can pop it into the microwave real quick."  
He looked at you slightly confused, like saying 'why bother?' Before looking at the food and starting to drool. Deciding not to bother he crawled over to the human sized soup bowl, that was filled to the brim with spaghetti. 'Could it be?' He mused, getting closer and taking in the smell, his eyelights turning to stars. Yes, he was sure this was originally made by his brother.  
Without a second thought he practically flung himself halfway into the bowl, eating greedily what he thought he would never be able to eat again.  
His eyelights starting to water over how good it tasted. It was like his brothers cooking, infused with all his love and magic, only not burned and cooked to perfection.  
His soul started to flutter happily and proudly. His brother had made this, his little brother becoming such a good cook, being a chef at a restaurant. It was a cute scene, albeit pretty messy, he had tears flowing from his eyesockets, making silent sniffling noises, while shoveling hands full of spaghetti into his mouth. Only his teeth didn't open, it looked like bites were taken out every time and just disappeared.  
You were kind of fascinated, taking a few sips from your own glass here and there.  
When Sans was finally done he had ended up sitting in the soup bowl slowly bringing up the last bit of spaghetti to his mouth with tears still in his sockets.  
How he could devour a human portion of spaghetti while being this small was confusing to say the least. Probably magic, you assumed.

His whole body covered in specks off spaghetti and sauce, he just sat there for another moment, then sighed and lay back.  
Right now he didn't care about being filthy or nude anymore. He was free from the strings, felt his magic replenishing, filled to the brim with his favorite food and was in a warm place, without having to worry about his next meal and his magic being blocked.

Screw there being a human around looking down at him happily and silently giggling to themselves. He could sleep for days now with how full and content he felt.

But alas, it wasn't meant to be. "Oh no" you brought him out of his stupor, he looked at you slightly warily, well as much as his sleepy state allowed him to.  
"You get a quick bath before you sleep." You nagged at him. Heh, you reminded him of his brother 'Sans don't go to bed all filthy again, the great papyrus won't allow it.' Sans snorted groggily.  
Seeing your hand approach however made him snap back to attention again. He was so full right now, surely you didn't want to just pick him up like that, now would you?  
But instead of reaching into the bowl you just reached for the bowl picking him up in it instead. He smiled to that, closing his eyesockets relieved.  
A grin crept in "gotta hand it to ya buddy" he smiled mischievous "you don't only buy, but also deliver. Treating a guy who was just bones, I wouldn't know how to even start to make it UP to you." Winking up at you shamelessly sprawled out with his arms behind his head.

You snorted, his brother was right, his puns were horrendous. But he was making them, which meant he was feeling more at ease. You just smiled at him, his expression fading a little into uncertainty to your lack of reaction.  
It wasn't hard to pick up on his sudden nervousness, but before he could make any excuses you stated "pff, your brother warned me about your puns when I called him that I had found you early this morning. But tybia honest, I didn't think I would get to hear them."  
He smiled lightly at your pun, before actually processing what you just said, jumping to his feet clinging to the edge of the bowl he stared at you hopefully "You talked to Paps? How is he, I mean, will he.. can I uh…" he faltered for a moment and his uncertainty crept back, making him avert his eyes. No, you wouldn't, why get his hopes up. There was still that bounty on his head and…  
You interrupted his thoughts "Yeah, he will be over in the afternoon, he needs to get you a few things and wrap things up at work. That's why I thought you might want to be clean and rested before he got here?"

Sans was shaking, his soul pulsing at that information, a few happy tears in the corner of his eyes "Y.. Yeah." He just answered shakily, rubbing at his sockets and you swear there was a hint of actual gratitude and happiness in there.  
Of course he couldn't get his hopes up too much, he would go along, he was mostly free now and had his magic back, but he couldn't afford to be tricked again.

The following bath for him was actually rather pleasant for both of you. Being used to be bathed by humans he didn't fuss about it as much as you thought. After brushing off the initial grime and food with a soft new toothbrush, you poured him another bath to just soak in and relax. When you noticed him starting to nod off you decided not to leave him alone though, but coax him to get out, helping him carefully dry off and loosely rolling him into a soft blanket burrito.  
You even managed to get most of the chewing gum of his feet with enough hot water.  
After the bath you poured the water out, only turning your back to him for a second, you already heard soft snores coming from the little skeleton-blanket-burrito.

Carefully you picked him up and brought him to the living room table.  
Rummaging through some cardboard boxes you found him a shoebox and put in some soft cloth. Manipulating the foot end of the lid with some airholes and cutting about a third of the roof on the top end, taping the cut out piece to the middle to make an easy to open hatch. Of course it needed to be blocked from just flipping back in, so you taped a strip of paper to the top end.   
As a precaution you wrote 'push here' on the inside with white marker.  
Letting the smell fade a little while, you check on Sans, who was still sleeping contently. It was kind of relaxing seeing him sleep this peaceful and you felt your eyes droop a little, but you had things to do.   
With him here you needed to tidy up a bit, also, as your rumbling stomach so kindly reminded you, you needed some breakfast.  
To make sure Sans would get his sleep, you put the fixed lid on top now, glancing at Sans for a last time.

After shoveling in some bacon and eggs and drinking plenty, you put a small cloth poncho with holes for his head and arms next to the cardboard box as well as some food and water in case he woke up while you were busy.  
Leaving a note saying 'please stay on the table and make sure to inform me before you wander the apartment, since I'm cleaning. (Y/N.. the human)'

Feeling you did everything properly, you decided to get to it, there'll be a visitor later after all (well one that actually cared for a clean environment) and then there was Sans, he could get lost between all the clutter.

It was late in the afternoon when you woke up to shouting and something poking you insistently on the nose.  
You furrowed your brows, slowly coming to. The tickling on your nose made you want to slap the offending intrusion. But luckily you opened your eyes beforehand to a very awake and very insistent sans "Hello, human (Y/N), are you there" came from the door. "You there, budd?" Sans asked when he saw your eyes crack open. Wait, why were you asleep, why did Sans wake you? He looked somewhat stressed. Then there's that other voice from the door.  
Your mind processing slowly like a Windings Computer updating you just stared at Sans irritated face for a moment.  
Suddenly your eyes were wide open. 'Papyrus!' Your mind shouted.  
Sans saw your reaction and blipped over to the table 'huh..' Seeing that closeby was kinda cool, but also pretty bright.  
You blinked and got up slowly at seeing Sans' uncertain expression.   
"I'll be right there." You called to the door.

Sans expression changed at that and he got closer to you "Uh, could I.." He motioned to your shoulder.  
You looked at him a little baffled by the question, standing up and shrugging your shoulders "sure" you answered, starting to bend down when he just blipped to your shoulder "Oh, okay." You commented eloquently, glancing to your shoulder shortly.  
Sans wore the cloth poncho looking a little unsure for a moment.  
Carefully standing straight again, you decided to just go with it and went to the door. Reaching for the handle you could feel the excitement radiating from the little skeleton on your shoulder.

Then the door opened and you couldn't even properly see papyrus when you felt Sans moving. Turning your head a little you saw him straight up fly by and heard him shout happily "Paps" aiming directly for the chest of his brother.  
Papyrus luckily had put down the bags he brought due to the long wait, so he caught Sans mid air, but stumbled backwards due to the surprise.  
"Nyeh!" He commented confused bumping into the wall behind him.  
Then he realised what he was holding looking down at a Sans that was tearing up looking at him overjoyed. Sans hugged and nuzzled Paps fingers. Papyrus carefully but quickly brought Sans to his cheek, hugging him to it "brother!" He whisper-shouted happily, tearing up as well.  
Sans was hugging his brothers cheek now happily giving him skeleton kisses.  
Seeing this scene you were sure Sans had never thought he would see his 'little' brother again and it made tears prick at the corners of your eyes.

This was good, you thought.

It took a while till they separated. A few neighbours silently peeking through the door you decided to take papyrus' luggage, so he could hold onto Sans, and ushered him in.

Luckily you cleaned enough and got to setting up the table before you passed out.

You lead him to your couch, setting the bags down, then went to the kitchen "tea?" You asked and Papyrus looked at you shortly "Oh yes, yes, please." He answered politely, directing his attention back to his brother.

For a moment he just looked at his brother in his hand. You were sure it must be a surreal feeling. Then suddenly tears gathered in the corner of his sockets. "Brother, I thought I would never see you again" he broke out, rubbing his forehead to his brothers' and started the waterworks again.

Sans did what he could to hug Papyrus' head. After a moment though Sans couldn't help himself, "Whale, brother,.." he started grinning mischievous and Papyrus narrowed his sockets at him "SANS" he warned. "I'm happy to sea you again as well." Papyrus just flung a giggling sans into the air "Sans, oh my god, must you ruin this moment."  
Mid-fall sans shortcutted to his brothers head who was making an outraged expression with googly eyes.  
Sans just lay on his head giggling madly. You were happy to just be there and enjoy their reunion.  
After a moment papyrus plugged sans from his head, holding him underneath his arms. Sans shrugged contently at his brothers inspecting gaze.

"I am however, glad you seem to be doing better in your new humans care." Paps gasped "Oh my, how rude of me, thank you so much for finding and helping my brother, (Y/N). As promised I will of course serve you my best spaghetti for as long as you desire."  
Sans send you a scrutinizing gaze, so you did this for payment after all.  
"Nah Papyrus, you know I am just glad you have your brother back now. I would be happy to come visit every once in a while, though. As well as you're always welcome of course." You answered without even catching Sans reaction.

Sans deflated a little at that "Splendid!" Papyrus beamed happily.  
"Though, I do not quite understand, did you not wish to help Sans to adjust? I remember you coming to the adoption center quite often."

Sans got even more sceptical at that revelation.  
You held up your hands in defense   
“I could never keep you two apart. I was interested of course but I'm worried Sans wouldn't be happy without you around Papyrus."

"Hmm.. this is somewhat of a problem. You see, to grow back to his original size my brother will require to be around a human."

Of course you knew this, it was all over the news, how humans helped some of the monsters to regrow. But it depended on the connection how well it worked.  
You glanced over to sans, who looked slightly flushed, still dangling in papyrus' hold.  
"Um, Paps, could we please talk in private for a moment?" Sans asked, looking tense.  
Papyrus looked at you.  
You blinked slightly confused, till you understood "Oh, yeah, sure, you can use my bedroom for a moment, I still got a few shows I wanted to watch on my spare days anyways."  
You led them to the door of the fortunately tidy room "take your time" you smiled and went back to your couch.

Sans sat on papyrus' hand looking slightly puzzled. "You know paps, I don't think this human is bad or anything, but they're not really uh... s.. soulbond material for me.."  
Sans looked down blushing a deep blue.  
Lifting his eyes again he saw papyrus looking at him without much of an expression "I don't even think I'll ever find a human, I'm compatible with. Especially not while I'm this small."  
Papyrus still stared at him, like he didn't understand what he said.

Sans was puzzled "umm, bro?"  
After a moment papyrus slapped his face with his free hand, groaning.  
"Oh my god, Sans, are you serious?!"   
Sans was confused by papyrus' irritation "uh, why?"  
"Did you even talk to anybody before you moved in with that bad choice of a human caretaker?"  
Sans cocked his head, why should he have talked to anybody, when he didn't feel any soul bond material around. He didn't really feel like having company when his situation seemed this hopeless.

Papyrus read his expression easily. "You didn't get the news, did you?!"  
Papyrus shook his head "honestly sans, sometimes… 'sigh'(he actually said')"  
He looked at Sans exasperated "this had been released well over a month before you went with that bad lady. Though I think everyone could do a little better, I suppose not everyone actually wants to.  
Anyhow, the important part is that you don't need a soul bond to grow again, you just need to be around a human long enough. Their souls will translate the surface magic pretty much automatically."

"But if that's true.."

"Off course you would need to be close to a human soul for a while."

"But…"  
"SANS, close(!) Means sitting on their shoulder, sleeping on their chest. Which is why getting along with said human does actually help."

"So, you just stuck around your human after you heard about it and grew back."

"Oh please, brother, the great papyrus does not need someone to tell him that hugs and friendliness go a long way. I had been halfway back to normal when we visited you that one day before your adoption and meant to tell you the happy news personally"

Sans sat there speechless for a moment just staring at his brother, when his eyelights turned to stars "You're so cool, bro."

"Off course, brother. And that is why I, the great papyrus will help you and leave you with this wonderful human that found you and helped us reunite."

Sans latched onto one of paps fingers at that "nonononononononono!" He insisted  
"I'm not gonna stay alone with any human ever again, especially while I'm this... tiny."  
He gave papyrus sad eyes and the most pathetic and vulnerable pose he could manage.  
"Please papyrus, don't leave me again."

Papyrus tsked at that "don't be absurd, Sans, you're the brother of the great papyrus, you will be fine staying with a wonderful human such as (y/n)."

That's when he plucked Sans from his fingers, using his free hand.  
"I have not been around to pay witness myself, but did they not risk a lot saving you from that greedy human that had been stalking you for quite a while?"  
He narrowed his sockets at Sans "or did they not speak the truth when telling me how they were worried since you almost got attacked by another human?!"

Sans was annoyed "what exactly did they tell you?" He grumbled displeased that the human might have made papyrus worry more than necessary.

"Why don't YOU tell me how you met them, then?!"

"They uh, they found me in an alley is all."

"So they did not help you beyond giving you a place to sleep for the night?"  
Papyrus asked sternly.  
Sans sweated "Uh.."  
"Then of course the great papyrus won't stand for such blatant telling of not truths." He exclaimed "as his not as great, but still very honest brother would never discredit a nice person in order to get what he wants of course."

Sans became even more nervous.  
"Come, brother. I shall free you and accompany you back to the care center."  
Papyrus made his way to the door.  
"W.. Wait, papyrus. Umm, can't I stay with you and your human?"   
Papyrus looked at him puzzled "Oh brother, how will you find a human fitting for you, then?!"

"Wouldn't it be enough to be around your human?" Sans asked.  
Paps scratched his chin "Of course the human of the great papyrus would certainly not mind."  
Sans' face lit up at that "however, my human rarely has time away from work since he opened his restaurant and since he is so vastly different from you his soul might barely be able to help you grow again. In fact is it true, that you did shrink even further while living on the street?"

Sans deflated and sweated nervously "and why would that matter?"  
"Well if you don't find a suitable human that actually wishes to tend to your needs, you might actually shrink again. In which case it would probably be better to go back to the care center."

Sans felt like he shrunk a little at that, he thought papyrus' logic over, trying to find a weak spot but he couldn't find any. When Pap got adopted his human was just starting his business and still had some time away from work. What's more from what paps told him he let him tag along basically everywhere and they shared a passion for cooking as well.

Was being around the human who saved him really that bad? They helped him on more than one occasion and while their way to help him was somewhat weird they didn't want to harm or exploit him.

Also they do have a nice place and try to make him comfortable…

Papyrus observed sans' inner struggle for a moment before clearing his throat "anyways, brother, I shall take you home with me for now. I cannot risk you being around another bad human. Do not worry, I'll tell them to not speak not truths again and bid them our farewells."  
With that, papyrus marched to the door and upon opening found the human standing before it, frozen in the process of knocking.

"Human, what is this, are you listening in on our very private and not to be listened in brotherly discussion?"

You could hardly answer to that, being called a liar by someone you saved hurt.  
It didn't matter anyways, just another someone to just drop you.   
When you decided to be roommates with a monster it was because they said one of their core traits was compassion. It wasn't that you minded doing the work, providing and caring were part of your nature.  
But being called a liar when you had the scars, to prove your story, was something else.

You saw Sans' guilty expression and turned your eyes away "I'm sorry papyrus, I didn't mean to overhear anything, I just needed something from my room."  
Turning around you sighed "But you don't have to say anymore, I already said I wouldn't get in your way. I'm just sorry that this is the conclusion of our meeting."  
You gathered his things and went to hand them to him.  
Papyrus commented your behaviour with a confused "Nyeh?" And looked to his brother, clearly feeling your souls distress.  
Sans looked somewhat guilty.  
Papyrus looked between you and his brother while you attempted to push him to the door. He didn't budge though.  
Finally he said "sigh" and turned to you "Please wait, human." Then he looked to sans again "brother, I feel you might wish to shed some light onto the situation, is there something you wish to add?"

"Sorry, papyrus, I just wanted to go with you. I didn't mean to hurt anyone. What if something happens and we can't see each other again."

"A 'no' would have been sufficient" you stopped trying to push pap and just addressed him  
"I am glad you are reunited with Sans, papyrus, but I will have to ask you to leave, now."

"No, human! I can clearly see you're hurting."  
Papyrus brought Sans up to his face "Brother, you may be facing your worst fears these days, but I know this isn't you. I know you can do better than that. Please, Sans."

You didn't want to give in, allowing someone in, getting hurt again.  
Still, when Sans turned to you, your hurting soul demanded you to give him another chance.

Sans looked you in the eyes and flinched, because he knew he caused that pain.   
He began silently "I.. I'm sorry. I was ungrateful. I uh.. there really isn't any excuse. I was… I .. I am afraid to end up with another bad human.  
You really have given me hardly any reason to doubt you, but there's one thing I didn't understand.."  
He looked at you, you met his gaze waiting for him to continue.  
"Why did you wrap me up that tight, when you tried to cut me free. Why didn't you just wake me up again?"

"I tried, but it didn't work. I didn't know what was wrong, you just fainted and I figured it was because of being strangled by all that filth.  
Wrapping you up was because I didn't want you to get hurt in case you woke up, while I tried to cut the tangles on your neck. I thought that was obvious?"

Sans looked baffled, he could see how that should have been obvious.

"Could you, promise to keep your curiosity at bay if I was to stay then?  
I could see you fighting it on more than one occasion."

You really wanted to refuse him, to drop him, like he dropped you. But seeing what he went through your soul demanded for you to help him get back his life. Deep down you felt he might be able to help you heal as well.

"I.. I can't promise that." You answered, getting back to the couch sitting down, sighing defeated.  
Papyrus frowned a little concerned. Sans looking up at him insecure.

"I do have questions. One of them is what happened in that woman's care and while you lived on the street.   
…

But I'd be content if you answered any of them or others in your own time.  
What I want to say is I am curious and I will ask questions but you don't have to feel obligated to answer them. I won't care less for anyone just because they don't answer my questions.  
However. If you decide to stay despite of that I have one condition. If you feel uncomfortable or you want to leave just tell me, I don't want you to end up on the street again."

You looked at him sternly.  
Sans met your eyes and gave you a firm nod, slightly smiling.

"On that note I couldn't help but peek and I believe papyrus has brought some nicer clothes for you. Wanna try them? Just curious"  
You winked.


	5. Lights out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There's fluff but also angst(?) and a cliffhanger at the end.   
I have another part written, I might add next week.. there's a few things I still need to check/correct.  
If there's anyone interested in the next part just leave a comment, otherwise I'll just assume no one else is currently left without enough reading stuff and do it whenever.
> 
> Papyrus visit and the same evening.   
Trust is slowly growing, but life is a constant up and down. Your current company leaves you in a constant emotional roller coaster. Healing is a slow thing, especially if both of you are doing baby steps..  
Sans gets triggered and you need to contemplate.. things.

Having Papyrus around and seeing Sans carefree and happy made you relax. It was nice to see the troubled skeleton smile, laugh and relax without a care in the world. 

You really felt bad for having to keep them apart. 

Honestly, Papyrus' logic didn't really sit right with you and when it was time to say their goodbyes, you swear your heart was about to break with how anxious Sans was at the prospect of letting Papyrus go.   
Heck, after this evening even you were reluctant.   
The things pap brought were inspected and more than once led to a raised eyebrow and/ or a laughing fit.  
Sans got to inspect his current and (hopefully) future attire and some of it were used clothes from his brother, who had grown out of them pretty quickly.   
Needless to say, some of it wouldn't be 'his style', but like the loving big brother he was, he took all of it in good humor. 

In the evening, Sans changed into a fluffy bunny onesie his brother brought.   
As Papyrus advised to always wear a slightly bigger change of clothes, in case Sans would grow overnight, it was a little bigger than it normally would be. 

You were taken aback by the choice of color…  
Pink?

He wore it with a shrug and a grin

\- No, don't stare at the insecure skeleton like an idiot - 

yes with his head to body proportions being out of whack, he had more or less toddler proportions,   
but he is a respectable adult…

that makes his brother almost flip the table,..  
with puns..

Deliberately making cute poses to defuse the situation…   
and… 

puppy eyes.  
You slapped your face trying not to get a laughing fit and held up your hand.   
They looked at you puzzled when you asked the question.   
One being filled with excitement, one being filled with dread…

Okay, they allowed you to take photos.

Sans seemed a little awkward at times, but you were sure when he grew back these pictures would make for a good reminder what he had achieved. Also, if he got too cocky in the future you would have bargaining material.   
>:D

Papyrus added you to a private group with him and Sans, so you could share the photos.  
Papyrus and Sans themselves decided on daily updates.  
For that purpose, Papyrus had brought Sans his own tiny magic cellphone (though it only had a call function and online texting, it gave Sans a sense of security that he could call Paps any time).  
You posted every photo Paps insisted on, Sans always agreeing in no time, even though he occasionally looked rather uncomfortable.   
How does a skeleton sweat?

Sans also got an own account in a monster group of his closest friends/ family  
\- he insisted on no photos aside from his face.. you weren't gonna tell him it was enough to guess how tiny he still was. 

Instead you let him pick a photo for his profile.   
His first entry in the group, was "okay" as an answer to his brother saying he should write something, when Papyrus had thrown his fit how he should greet others before anything else, he just wrote "hi". Needless to say this continued for a while.   
From what you picked up, their friends were naturally relieved that Sans had been found albeit having questions. But his shenanigans left little room for doubt or worries.  
You soon realized he was a master at deflecting questions.

Now Papyrus had left about an hour ago and you were preparing snacks for movie night. You knew you'd still be a while before you'd be able to wind down. It was only 7 PM after all. 

Papyrus had set Sans on your shoulder when he went away and that's where he stayed, observing what you did. One droopy eye always cracked open. 

You were preparing snacks for movie night and were just about finished, that's when you felt a sudden.. problem.

"Sans?!"  
You felt a slight shift in weight on your shoulder "You have to get down for a moment."   
From the corner of your eye, you could see him sit up, while you were already making your way to the bathroom. 

He stretched and yawned, then looked up at you lazily.  
"Why?" He asked.   
You stood in front of the bathroom leaning from one foot to the other and shrugged your head towards the door, looking at him and smiling uncomfortably.   
For a moment he followed your eyes and looked between you and the door, before adding that to your sudden change of behavior. 

"Oh!" he answered. And his eyes opened quickly "Oh, yes… sure, uh, sorry."  
He disappeared from your shoulder, reappeared on the ground and scurried away back towards the living room.   
Well you didn't have to beg for privacy, so there's that. 

Your little break turned out to be a little longer, when you noticed how much you actually needed a breather after the excitement of the last two days.   
It was the first time that you shared an apartment with someone, let alone being responsible to care for another sentient and intelligent being… 

one with a backstory,   
you knew nothing about.. 

that could be triggered 

At. 

ANY. 

M O M E N T.

…

You two needed to talk. 

When you returned he gave you a look, but didn't say anything. 

"Sorry, must have dosed off" you answered.   
That earned you a grin from him and he clearly wanted to say something but decided against it.   
"What?" You cocked your head for a moment, waiting.   
When he looked away nervously, you broke eye contact. Why not just say it?

Anyways. You shook your head.   
"So, I've thought about something. I would like to set up some guideline for us."  
You went to your left cupboard and dug up some paper and a pen.   
Setting down the paper on the table you wrote + and - on top, noticing him looking over lazily.

"Sure" he shrugged, a bead of sweat forming at the side of his head. 

"Would you like to start? Is there something that makes you uncomfortable? Or would help you adjust?" You asked.   
He slowly sat up seeing your serious expression and thought for a moment.   
There were things he was clearly thinking about but he seemed hesitant.  
He looked up at you nervously, noticing he took a lot of time.

"Well?" You encouraged.  
But he still didn't say it.   
You sighed. 

"Alright, then I will start us off."   
You wrote down in the "+" column "talking allowed" in Purple turning the paper towards him.   
He looked at it for a moment, then his frown slightly twitched upward and he shrugged "okay. "

But he still didn't say anything.   
You put the paper down again.  
"Good. " you answered.   
Then you thought for a moment.   
Eventually writing down the next thing. "This has mostly safety reasons. "   
Turning the paper, you looked at him. He read it.   
"At least until i get used to it, tell me before you blip somewhere close to me, especially on my shoulder.   
Don't want to swat at you by accident." You added Jumpscares below "-" in purple. 

He looked nervous for a moment.   
You narrowed your eyes, guessing his angle. 

"I could give you a hand up, too." You smiled, waving at him. 

He twitched. You kept waving with a knowing smirk.

Needless to say, you said this on purpose to make him say it and he was clearly on edge about it, but still didn't say it.

For a moment you just looked at him.   
Then you turned your paper around, pointing at "talking allowed." and giving him a deadpan stare.   
"Uh…"  
He was focused on your hand for a moment.   
"So you already know, huh?"  
He sighed.   
You made gestures for him to continue  
"Gee, Okay.. okay, …  
N.. no handling, please. "   
he spouted, casting his eyes downward, apparently waiting for some kind of repercussion. 

It wasn't that you didn't expect some kind of reaction, but while this wasn't the worst, his body language told you, he had made some kind of bad experience. Probably just wasn't given a choice to begin with.   
After a moment you wrote down 'hands' below "-" in Blue. 

You sighed. This wouldn't be easy.   
"There's one thing I don't really get, though. You didn't seem as anxious about bath time. Or am I wrong?"

His head shot up at you. "Huh?!"  
He seemed dumbfounded for a moment. 

"Uh yeah, It's.. uh.."  
He looked down again, nervously.   
"It's more about being grabbed.. or.. held."  
There was a little confusion in your expression and you scratched your chin in thought. He didn't seem to have a problem with paps and some of the caretakers, though. 

"What about just standing on top?"  
His eyes shot up at you, almost panicking "No!" He lost his newfound composure "just, n.. no hands." bones slighty rattling he looked in the distance  
..  
"Please" he added after a moment. 

"Alright" you said, relieved about the progress, even though you felt sorry for pushing him. 

You sighed "just to make sure, how about everything else, arms, face, e.t.c.?"

He pondered it. "Arms are okay, i guess..   
no.. no hands, no face and..."  
You made a slash next to hands and added face.   
"And..?"  
You repeated.  
Looking down at him again, you saw him staring at your foot. When he caught you looking, he instantly looked away.  
"N.. nothing."

"To ease your mind on that particular one.   
My eyesight is pretty good and I always watch my step.   
As long as you’re bigger than an ant, you're fine. Still, try to keep to the higher grounds if you can. Cool?"

He snorted and shrugged "snow problem. "  
That earned him a snort and a smile from you, which he returned with a wink. 

"Oh right, about faces." You backtracked.  
He looked up at you.  
"Don't poke me to wake me up, unless you want to be sent flying. Just yell from a distance, or, dunno.. throw something? - preferably not too painful."

For a moment you could see him grinning, pondering what to throw.   
You looked around for a second "here. " you grabbed for two little hacky sacks and put them on the table.   
Then you considered him being a skeleton and them being half as big as him.  
You looked back and forth rubbing your chin "huh....." 

Sans didn't bother much, picking them up with his magic easily. 

"Okay." He said, while you were enraptured by the idea he could pick up stuff with his magic.

Needless to say you were internally debating this, thinking about all the possibilities. What could he do when he was back to normal? Could he.. would he even consider..  
Comparing the weight of the hacky sacks to his and guessing how much he might weight when full grown, you added your own weight to the equation instead of the hacky sacks and..

A moment later you were hit in the face by one of the hacky sacks breaking you out of your thoughts.   
You held your face, twitching your nose a few times "hey!" you sputtered, not so much out of pain but out of surprise.   
He grinned at you mischievous "seems to work. " he answered. You raised your brow in mock offense, smiling challenging.   
Really, you were happy he lightened up and well.. didn't throw too hard.  
He snickered. 

You shook your head.   
"So, Anything else you want to add?"

He thought for a moment "nah, I'm good. " he shrugged. 

"Okay." You answered, taking the paper and pinning it on the fridge with a magnet.   
"We can still add things if something comes up."  
On your way back you switch off every light except the living room floor lamp.  
Returning with the rest of the prepped snacks from the kitchen and sitting down on the couch, you grab for the remote and want to switch on the tv but you stopped.  
Looking at Sans the glow in his eyes was even more apparent with the room being slightly darker.   
You squinted a little at him, he looked up at you suspiciously "something wrong?"

Oh?! A direct question.   
"Kinda gotta ask. Are your eyes actually glowing?"

He snorted "Of course, they're eye-'Lights' after all.  
Why?" He cocked his head. 

"Uh, could I..?" You grabbed for the light switch of the floor lamp and looked at him.  
He looked a little confused, then shrugged "Sure…?"

Then you both were suddenly in the dark, two white pinpricks looking up at you, till they quivered. You switched the light back on a wide grin on your face "That's so cool" you said. His shoulders relaxed a bit. 

"You okay?" You asked him. Sans deflated "yeah, fine. Uh, let's.. not do that too often, though. "  
"Yeah, it's a bit, creepy, isn't it." You rubbed your neck.  
"Not to get you down buddy, but yeah.."  
"Hey, on the bright side, we now know better than to walk around in the dark while we're roomies." You smiled.   
He snorted, then laughed for a moment. You were just confused "heh,.. okay, okay. At least you can still see me in the dark…  
Well, unless."

And just like that his eye lights were gone. You tensed.   
He slowly looked up at you, then the lights were back and he took in your spooked expression.   
At first it was kind of eerie, then his grin twitched and he laughed "hey, I'm just kidding, buddy. Didn't mean to rattle you that much. "

You huffed "if you don't want to give me a heart attack, don't do that while you're sitting in a pile of plushies."

He raised a brow at that.

"Well while you get spooked by giant looming shadows, some people may have seen a few too many horror movies."  
"What?" He looked at you confused. 

"Nevermind they're movies that we might want to avoid for now.   
I was looking forward to something different anyways. Well unless, you mind?"  
He blinked at you a few times, then shrugged. 

"Hmm, i should, probably show you first?"  
You switched on the TV and opened your streaming service.   
While you scrolled down to your show, you didn't catch him flitting over the pictures.   
When you stopped, the description of the show popped up and you froze, remembering who was sitting next to you right now.   
Your excitement over the new season made you forget a most crucial thing. 

“Oh, right, the description is kind of..”  
You wanted to explain, but already felt a chill in the air.

Yeah you screwed up..

This was a series where a guy with a tragic backstory that could do magic was fighting monsters (well.. bad monsters,   
..the point was human(ish) guy vs monster).

The 'he only fights BAD monsters (and humans)' part was left out in the description, so when you started and hoped this time he might give you a chance to explain?, but looking at him, you froze.   
When he turned to you with his eye lights erased you choked back the next words. 

"Is this a joke?" He asked.


	6. Spaces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Someone needs a breather and someone is getting some space, to think.  
Maybe it will do some good in the end.
> 
> Featuring our bad guys and Sans trying to save you from drowning and almost drowning you in the process.  
Also you're getting some answers and even more questions. Life amirite?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, dropping this early after the nice support from you guys :)  
Oh, forgot to wish everyone a happy new year, take this as a little late 'happy 2020'

“Um.. okay, it’s not..”  
Your mind reeled, was this really just about a tv show, with a questionable summary?  
The guy was only fighting bad guys (monsters and humans alike).

"Sans.. what.."  
He raised his hand.  
Nothing explained, no chance to get an answer.  
Why did you keep messing up, this was awful.  
Those empty sockets looking at you, disbelieving, judging. 

Turning your head you stood up, not looking at him, yes you were disappointed in yourself but being judged without even considering an explanation or tell you what's wrong stung, too.  
This couldn’t just be about the TV show, you felt you were missing some crucial info here. Was it something that happened after he was with that woman? 

You slapped your face. 

He was chased around, maybe something even worse happened you didn't know.  
Getting your ribcage almost kicked in should have been a pretty good indicator and what did the guy mention 100 grand?

This show was mostly about the struggles of the human(ish) protagonist, the description must have made him think this is something else..  
Well it gets kind of brutal in some scenes, but if the bad guys did sth. they always get their butt handed to them. And...  
You ran both your hands through your hair, fussing, cursing inside. This wasn't what you should be focusing on right now. 

You sighed. Knowing hardly anything about his backstory, you might as well prepare his stuff, for him to move out. Or better yet, move out yourself, for being stupid.

Some air didn't sound too bad right now. 

Taking the keys and your jacket, you froze for a moment. Would he need anything, he had food, water, a place to sleep, shouldn't be low on magic and had a means to call help if he needed to.  
You turned to him after a moment, seeing him still eyeing you with those empty sockets.

"For what it's worth..  
I am sorry,  
I don't know what you've been through and this show would probably really have been less than ideal, but for other reasons than you might think...  
…  
I didn't want to upset you, I can be.. dumb  
(you sighed)  
I..  
I'll give you some space feel free to help yourself with the snacks.  
If something happens..You have your cell phone. 

Don't..wait, I will.. 

be a while."

With that you stepped in the hallway, down the stairs and outside. 

Bad Conflicts weren't yours, you wanted to apologize, but struggling with words when you were treading thin ice, would be bad.  
You felt like an idiot and a coward. 

You needed to clear your head. So you walked. 

Knowing the way by heart you let your feet carry you and your mind wander  
Sans wasn't good at forgiving, you weren't good at apologizing... 

You looked up at the stars that slowly became more visible. 

Not to sound cheesy, but Papyrus told you about Sans' interest in astronomy, right now you wished you could have shared this space with him, instead of leaving him the empty one at home. 

This was only your second day having him around and you didn't know if it would eventually get better.  
Living by yourself for a long time and suddenly being around someone else the whole time you figured there would be a few problems. But this should have been an obvious red flag..  
How about asking Sans what he wanted to watch genius.  
Putting your hands into your pockets you groaned. Beating yourself up won't help, besides, Sans deserved to do that when he still felt like it as soon as you're back. 

Right now you needed to breathe, so you stopped, tilted your head back, eyes closed, and took in some fresh air. As you opened them, you looked up at the universe and let the vastness of the night sky remember you, that every person and every problem on this planet was still small compared to the vastness of space and time. 

Putting it into perspective had always helped you to at least ease your mind about problems if you felt the danger of blowing them out of proportion.  
There were people who really struggled, even to them your problems would be laughable.  
In the end your decision wasn't even the one that mattered in this case.  
Sans was free to do what he wanted. You just grow attached too easy..

The bench on the tiny hill allowing a glance at the stars and the bigger parts of the city felt lonely and being there during night time was always a little scary, but it was peaceful.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans heard you leave, even that small apology you whispered.  
He short cutted to the hallway cupboard of your apartment, listening intently for you.  
Was he even done talking to you?

Watching a series about a witcher that was killing monsters?  
With monsters being trapped underground by mages and him having to deal with humans hunting him and to top this off  
his..  
their  
diminished size because of the barrier.  
Seriously, how insensitive could you get?  
Even that part with monsters and humans fighting should have been a red flag after what he had been through.

No sound…  
so you weren’t coming back. Just left him there and ran.  
He opened his phone checking if his brother was online, boiling inside.  
His fingers moved by themselves and he was about to just call Papyrus, when he glanced over at the TV. Finger hovering over the call button, he gritted his teeth.

No, he wasn’t gonna let you off that easily.  
This show was exactly what he was thinking it was.  
He would watch this and tell you everything that was wrong with you and humans in general. It’s like all of them just ignored what had happened to monsterkind.  
He shortcutted to the table and angrily bit into a chip.  
It was just like.. like all of them being totally.. ob..  
obli..vious…?  
His chewing stopped and his eyelights considered that thought, his face morphing to slight confusion… they.. must have released something about it, right? Why monsters were this small..

He shook his head  
No, this.. he looked up at the tv that was still showing the description and read it again. This was still a series about a human fighting monsters.  
With a huff he sat down on the sock and pressed the remote.  
Just as distrustworthy as all the other humans.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been a while and you started to get cold, so you decided to move taking the scenic route back home.  
While the peaceful sky and the air helped clear your mind, there was one thing that always made you feel better. A hot bath. You plugged in your earphones. A hot bath After a nice obstacle run home.  
Turning to the fence behind you, you felt your grin stretching upwards and your heart beating faster. With one jump you cleared half the fence, climbing the rest and jumping down on the other side.  
Looking over the shut down industrial complex you considered your way home, deciding on a maximum of jumping and climbing and a minimum of cars, people and traffic.  
You wanted a workout not more drama.

It wasn’t until 11pm that you made it home. Head sufficiently cleared and properly out of breath you prepared for the last jump between the rooftop you were currently on and your houses’ rooftop, when you noticed something moving in the alley below.  
You may have been on the fifth floor, but somehow you recognized that demeanor even from this far away, ducking, when you thought the person wanted to look up.

Agitated you listened intently, your healed ribs giving off a faint pain.  
“Not here” you heard a familiar voice “Let’s call it a night.” came a plight from another.  
Then there was a low grumble that made you grit your teeth.  
“Fine, let’s take the scenic routes back and call me if you find something.” there was nervous feet shuffling backwards “or else.”  
You listened for them leaving. Judging from the sound in different directions. You intentionally waited the extra minute, before getting up just in case.

So they were still after Sans…?  
For a moment you just stared, then answered your own question, internally face palming,..

100 grand, duh! You groaned.

Wait a moment!

‘SANS!’ you jumped to your feet, worried he might've just left on his own, since it was late and he didn't like to bother papyrus.  
Getting to your rooftop and almost flying down the stairs and hallway to your apartment you rushed to open the door and went in. Quickly but silently closing the door behind you and whisper calling “Sans”?!  
The moment you entered the living room and switched on the lights, you went straight for the couch watching your step.

Looking at the TV, you cringed. Right you would have skipped those scenes if you had watched this together.  
Well, he looked at the evidence.. for better or worse, you may or may not find out. 

But that wasn’t important right now, looking around, wondering where he was you were almost hit by the obvious. The Two story dollhouse that had magically found its way on the table.  
You took a relieved breath, looking through the open window on the second floor, there he was, on a bed, that was angled perfectly for him to still see the TV when sitting up.

Seems you weren’t the only one ready to call it a day, though. Judging from his light snores you would have to wait for tomorrow to find out what he had decided on.  
But damn, for an adult guy this shrunken skeleton was nothing but downright adorable.  
His proportions were already the death of you and now he was sleeping, looking peaceful and hugging his bunched up blanket instead of lying underneath it.  
Not that you had any reason to, but you don't think you could be mad at him if you tried.

Deeming it unnecessary you switched the tv off, since you weren’t gonna watch anymore on it tonight and Sans was already asleep.

You went into the bathroom to fill that bathtub, so you could soak a little before going to bed. While you waited you got some new clothes and gobbled up the rest of the chips, watching an episode of a different show on your mobile, of course with headphones. 

About 20 minutes later you went into the bathroom, throwing your worn clothes into the hamper and getting into the tub, sliding down with a sigh.

Unnoticed by you, a set of eyelights glanced around the corner of the slightly ajar door, just in time to see you sigh and slide all the way down under the water.  
The warmth and the silence were dangerous as you were tired, but you kept an eye on that problem (well metaphorically, you didn’t want to get soap in your eyes).  
Relaxing further into the warmth you slowly breathed out through your nose, letting the warmth work on your thoroughly used muscles.  
You concentrated on the air leaving your nose, small bubbles tickling with every bit of breath slowly leaving you.

Right now everything was fine, Sans was safe for the night, bad guys didn't know where he was and you would hear him out tomorrow.  
Change is constant.. whatever happens you'll do your best.

Suddenly you thought you heard something, but it was way to comfortable for you to actually consider it being anything else than one of your neighbors.  
Then you felt yourself getting pulled upwards by something on your chest and furrowed your brows. Rising slightly outside the warmth, you started to struggle, breathing in some water, sitting upright, coughing.  
Noticing only now the blue glow around you, you cracked one eye open, in between coughs and hitting your chest to get the water out.

There he was, looking at you guiltily and panicked. So much for your question if he could lift you up with his magic.  
Oups, no, he was panting,... on his knees now and just about to fall forward, when you caught him. 

Aww damn, hands... again?!

He was still awake, looking up at you wearily, while trying to push himself up with his hands again. For whatever reason he seemed to have wasted a lot of magic on the attempt to lift you up and only managed to weakly push against your hand.

You got out of the bath and put him down on a soft wash cloth facing the wall.  
He was just trying to turn his head to keep an eye on you when you spoke up  
“S.. Sorry” you coughed “but unless you wanna watch, give me a second.”  
You could see a little blue dust his cheekbones.

After drying off and putting on your pjs you looked at him again. He was breathing less strained, glancing up at you “better?” you asked and he just sighed a silent “Y..yeah.”  
He tried to move but still couldn’t get up “You gonna be able to get up?” you asked, voice slightly raspy.  
He sighed again “give me a moment.” he said, so you just sat down on the toilet lid, after draining the bathtub.

“Sorry” you said after a moment of watching his eyes droop “For what?” he asked.  
“Picking you up again” you answered having used your hand again.

He seemed to consider you giving him a hand again, his eyelights moving around, til he sighed and closed his sockets  
“s’fine.” he shrugged a bit, still lying on his side, the way you had placed him.  
It seemed he really couldn’t move right now. 

Must have been quite the strain.  
You glanced in his general direction, feeling your own eyes droop.  
Shuffling as much as he was capable he tried to look in your direction but only managed to tilt his head a bit. “You know, you don’t have to stay.. I’ll.. be a while.”  
He said, sockets half closed and heavy.  
“‘sides, this isn’t half bad.” he snuggled into the washcloth.

Let him sleep in the bathroom or try to get him into his own bed.

“I’ma get your bed.” you sighed, standing up. You started to feel your workout and the excitement starting to pull you under. Somewhat sluggish turning to the door, you wanted to leave, when he spoke up. “Wait.” he called. You turned back around.

“I uh.. maybe you could..  
give me a h..hand.”

You cocked your brow at that.  
Moving over to him, you looked down at him and saw him glance back nervously.

“Say again?!” you asked, wondering whether you heard that right.

“Look, I..  
can we talk about this tomorrow?” he asked, looking exhausted “You.. j.. just pick me up?”  
“O.. Okay.” you answered, grabbing for the wash cloth. “No, I.. I mean, just like that. I.. J.. just do it please.”

Now you were puzzled. He just laid there waiting, clearly nervous. “Alright” you said, slowly moving one hand in front and one behind him. 

His eyes were wide open now looking you in the eye.  
“I’m just gonna roll you onto your back.” you stated and he nodded, closing his sockets nervously.  
With how panicky he seemed you wondered why he would ask to do it this way. But he said it was okay, so..  
you slowly and carefully rolled him over on his back and on top of the hand waiting behind him.  
Bringing him slowly up close to your chest and tilting your hands edge so he couldn’t fall to the front, you started to make your way to the living room. He shifted, grabbing for your top with a confused “huh..” and you felt him relax.  
Looking down you locked eyes with him for a moment and saw him slowly doze off.

You weren’t quite sure, but you supposed he expected something else when he allowed you to pick him up. He ended up in his bed, sighing and sinking into his cushion.  
“G’ night.” you whisper-yawned, closed the curtains and went to your bedroom, switching off all the lights.  
Making it to your bed you crawled under the blankets and were out like a light.

Not even the worry about the upcoming talk as well as the idiots searching for Sans could keep you up anymore, that was for tomorrow-you.

~~~~~~

Little did either of you know there'd be a small surprise the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to everyone commenting and supporting this as well as the kudos. I have been struggling for a long time with publishing and finishing stories and really am trying with this. So I'm truly happy about the support since it makes me feel like I am still doing good.
> 
> While I am mostly writing this for myself, I still write this for others to read as well and hope you get something out of this (other than confusion ^^°)..
> 
> Anyways, I can't tell you when the next chapter will be but I have a rough outline for it. The rest is continuity and a simple time issue.  
RL is taking a toll as well as trying to make this good, so it will take some time. I might do some sort of summary of what happened so far in the future (no promises rn though I am aiming for at least a chapter per month)


	7. Getting up slowly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The aftermath of a crazy day.  
Things get better, but one step at a time.  
Sans opens up a bit about his time with his previous 'caretaker' even if the reason for it is guilt.  
Healing needs some piece and quiet though. You realize now more than ever, something must be done. An important talk about Sans no longer being hunted was unavoidable. This time if something interfered though, you wouldn't just lie down and take it.

When you woke up the next morning, you felt somewhat drained. Surely the events of yesterday ended on a good note, but all in all the stress beforehand hadn't left your bones ('ha!').  
A quick grin flashed across your face, when you remembered Sans messing with his brother.

Then you felt like you should really get up and check how he was doing.  
Freezing for a second you did a quick check around yourself first to make sure he hadn't slipped in during the night. Softly patting everywhere close to you, you couldn't find him anywhere.

Sighing in relief you got up, scanning the floor around you just in case.  
He was nowhere to be seen.  
Worry hit you in the guts, remembering how drained he seemed the evening before. He wouldn't have been able to make it anywhere, he couldn't even get up on his own.

Putting on your slippers you got over to the living room as quickly as you could, checking the floor on your way there just in case.

He was nowhere to be found (luckily?!?).  
But then..  
A dark thought crept up, just when you grabbed for his curtains.

"Sans?..."  
You called, waiting for a reaction.  
He was probably still sleeping?  
Or maybe getting dressed?  
Yes, you just didn't mean to disturb him, no need to panic here.  
Maybe he was even pranking you?

You pulled back scanning your immediate surroundings skeptically.

No, that's dumb. Just pull back the curtain already.  
"Sans?!" You called a little louder again.  
You waited, but nothing happened. 'Oh well' you tried. 

Opening the curtains you peeked in and what you saw made you worry.  
When Sans got to you, he had been roughly the size of your hand and while you had seen it and heard of it, you didn't expect this to happen again.  
There was a twist in your chest looking at him, huddled around his crumpled bed sheets, his clothes hanging from his bones loosely and much too big.  
Yesterday he had been panicky whenever you moved close to him, but he was still keeping it together. With him now you weren't sure picking him up again like the evening prior would be a good idea.  
From what Papyrus had told you however, not doing it would only be risking for this to keep going in the wrong direction.

You frowned.  
"Sans?!" You tried again "hey! Wake up lazy bones."  
He didn't even stir.

No other way then, you thought. You opened the side of his bedroom, checking for any reaction.  
When nothing happened, you steeled yourself, carefully bringing in your pointer finger and nudged him.  
Keeping a close eye on him, you were prepared to pull away any time.  
What happened then made you tense though. After nudging his back again, he turned around and hugged your pointer finger.  
It would have been more bargaining material, if this wasn't a big problem.  
If he woke up now, nuzzled to your pointer finger, you were sure he would freak out about the size of it.  
Who wouldn't?  
Overnight he himself had shrunken to the size of your pointer finger.

You had to abort the mission. Carefully trying to pull away, you almost succeeded to slip free, when his face scrunched up and he quickly brought his legs around your finger, hooking onto it like a koala.

Hugging your finger tightly, he nuzzled into it, sighing into it like one would into a body pillow.  
Okay, so for the record, this was not your plan.  
It wasn't hard to tell why he snuggled up to you that easily though. Feeling him pressed to your finger, you noticed he was pretty cold, shivering a little.

If Sans wasn't already having a bad time, this adorable picture would have made you snap a few to send to his brother.  
Not even in mock, mind you.  
Just..  
was this normal for the little guy?  
He seemed to latch onto you without any hesitation. 

Well, getting your finger free would be impossible right now and even if you could with him being this cold you wouldn't feel good about it.

Better prepare for a major panic attack then, you thought.  
Sitting in front of the couch table for five minutes now your arm was getting tired and still no sign of him waking up.  
You decided to carefully extract sans from his bed and put your trapped hand on your chest, lying on the couch.  
This was gonna get awkward, but Papyrus said this is where they get most energy from.  
The place where your… Soul was?

You pulled your blanket over yourself since you started to feel the cold as well.  
Lying your other hand loosely like a blanket on top of Sans so he would warm up better as you waited. 

After about half an hour of this, boredom got to you.  
Ah, well, one little picture can't hurt.  
If Sans was gonna laser your face off, when he woke up, at least you left the world knowing the last picture you ever shot showed it was worth it.  
The deed was done quickly.  
Now you needed some distraction, the moment you decided to grab for the tv remote to help fight the sleep that was starting to claim you again, however, Sans stirred.  
Grabbing for your blanket hand and pulling it back towards him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He felt his blanket all around him, but the cold still seeped straight into his bones.  
Outside someone called him, but it seemed distant and rather loud.  
Didn't matter though, if he was still cold, he still needed sleep, besides, outside it would even be colder than his bed, so, no thank you.  
Something let in the light, luckily his giant blanket didn't let it get into his face.  
The sun felt nice though, warming up a nice squishy body pillow that he must have had lying around.  
Hmm, so nice and warm, he must have unconsciously bumped it with his back.  
Deciding to simply turn around and grab it, he latched onto it, nuzzling it. The texture was rubbing his cheek nicely and the warmth was already sinking into his bones. 

At some point however, he must've let it slip, because he felt it slowly leaving his grasp. Scrunching up his brow bones he decided this won't do, bringing his feet around it and holding onto it tightly.  
His blanket got trapped in between, but oh well.

At some point he felt like floating, must have been that warm cushion, it felt heavenly.  
For some reason the cold and the exhausted feeling from a restless sleep started to leave his bones.  
This was his cushion, like heck, he'd ever let it go. Nuzzling it felt so good, like it was scratching an itch, while giving him magic, he felt quite drained of. 

He could sleep like this all day.  
Would pap let him?

Now the sun warmed the other blanket above him. Could this get any better?  
He sighed. 

Some time passed and he sensed something mischievous, like someone thought of a trick or a prank. Then it changed into frustration, like someone whining that he should wake up already. 

What had him puzzled, it wasn't pap, but still felt familiar.  
Like someone he hadn't known for long but still felt a connection to.. some kind of camaraderie. 

Who was it?

Oh no, wait, his blanket was slipping again.  
Dang, he couldn't grab it in time.  
He frowned, starting to open his sockets. 

But the blanket was back in an instant.  
Funny, how that happened.  
Did blankets do that?

What's going on?

The blanket started slipping again.  
Not again!  
The movement made him finally open his sockets, something felt…  
odd. 

But he could grab his warm blanket before it could slip again and his cushion was simply too good to pass up...  
Should he get up?  
...  
No.  
5 more minutes, just nuzzling his cushion, lying here couldn't hurt could it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tilting your head as much as you could, you were able to vaguely make out his movements and shape.  
He appeared to have opened his sockets, lazily snuggling up to your pointer finger. Amused at the scene you waited for a reaction. He might bite you or use an attack on you but right now this was too adorable not to grin like an idiot, since he was halfway awake but still not realizing how his bed had transformed. 

Then he loosened his grip on your finger, loosely patting on his hand blanket.  
You braced yourself. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just,..  
There was something.  
Something felt… off?

He couldn't put his phalange on it.  
Patting his immediate surroundings, there was a short quake. Well that can't be good.  
Then he reached below him.  
Someone was there, their soul giving off amusement and something else. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sure enough his pets started to become more of an exploring his surroundings until he pet your chest.  
Suddenly he went rigid 'oh boy' then he let go of your finger trying to get up, flailing around in his oversized clothes.  
You pulled your hands back immediately, crossing your right arm over your chest, to use your right hand to block him from being able to accidentally drop off the couch.  
Then you waited for him to settle, or do..  
something. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One of his pats made him scramble off his cushion. Underneath was something soft, like... fabric (?) and below?  
…  
There was a Giant, Powerful soul.  
Like a shark clearly visible underneath a layer of ice.  
He was too panicked to get a clear read. It was simply too big, no time wondering about intentions, better ready an attack. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He had scrambled back, sitting on his behind and holding one arm up, aiming his hand(?) at you.  
There was that telltale pose you roughly recognized through the cloth covering, but for some reason instead of fearing an attack you just had to snort, suppressing a laugh.  
Your chests movement unbalanced him and he flailed in his oversized onesie, flopping down on his side again.  
With great effort you suppressed laughing loudly, but couldn't keep from snickering, your chests movements making him bounce a little.  
Then he seemingly stilled. You couldn't make him out properly anymore since he seemed to have been swallowed by his onesie  
"You awake now?" You asked, voice amused, trying to whisper.  
There was some movement, then it settled again, he seemed to struggle with something. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He was flung around, the giant soul amused about his stance.  
Then he toppled over, his blanket must've swallowed him completely, because he was stuck.  
What was that bouncing?  
Was it.. snickering?  
Who would be mocking him, when he was aiming an attack at them?  
He didn't know where he was and what had happened but he could feel the soul had no bad intentions. The laugh seemed to be a mix of amusement, fear and pity.  
He ended up on his behind, then a voice asked him if he was awake now.  
It was loud but still a whisper.  
Being bounced around made him lose his orientation, he just had questions right now.  
Like how could he get out of here. Where was here even?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where.. where am I?!" Came his voice. It was small enough to sound squeaky and the way he stiffened, you knew he noticed as well. 

"Generally or specifically?" You asked.  
He struggled a little then stopped again.  
"Wait, I know your voice."  
He said.  
"That's good" you answered  
waiting for him to continue. 

Another attempt at freeing himself, then panting.  
"Uhh.." he spoke lamely after catching his breath (?) "A little help maybe?" He sat idly, waiting.  
"Hold on, can't see you properly right now.  
I would have to pick you up for this though … you okay?"

"To patella the truth,.. I don't think so..  
But..  
Let's get this over with?!"

"Fair warning, this might feel a little more intense."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His own voice surprised him.  
Was he that low on magic?  
Voice…  
The one answering was a human, he remembered that voice.  
His conscience provided him his most recent memories. Oh, them, he thought.. 

Wait, why would they hold him, why weren't they mad?

Their soul wasn't even closed off, he could feel the magic flow freely. Their intent simply to comfort him.  
Why comfort Him? He was the one who messed up. Judged too soon.

He needed out. Right now.  
No reason not to ask for help, if they weren't mad.  
Questions could wait till he was free.  
So he asked.  
….

Wait, more intense.. why?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a moment you felt a small movement, you assumed would be a shrug "ready?" You prompted. "Oh, uh, s.. sure thing.. go ahead?" He sounded unsure and when you loosely grabbed him, you could feel his small form lock up.  
Sitting up slowly, you grabbed for a cushion with your other hand, carefully lowering him to it and setting him down.  
As soon as you could properly see him you realized where his problem was.  
"Try turning around. You're going the wrong way. " you said. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Woah okay, that really felt intense.  
And was he held by two massive fingers?  
There was no way that was how he was held yesterday, when he allowed them to pick him up. 

With the distance he traveled he was glad skeletons didn't feel vertigo.  
He had a hunch what had happened, but why now?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sans was crawling around in his onesie for a moment, still you braced yourself for him to realize where he was and what had happened.  
Just in case you sat back on the couch, crossing your legs and resting your hands loosely in your lap as to not intimidate him. 

He finally emerged. His head popping through the opening, he sat up, covering himself with the onesie like he was holding up a blanket.  
Upon getting his head out, he blinked sleepily, narrowing his eyes against the bright outside. 

"So.. uh, what happen.." his eyes zeroed in on your chest before he could finish that sentence, then trailed up, craning his neck. His sockets went wide. You smiled as friendly as you could.  
Boy, this was awkward. 

For a moment he just stared. Then his eyes trailed over to his onesie.  
"Oh." He commented.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Figures..

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You felt bad for him.  
"You okay?" You asked. 

He pondered for a moment, staring down at the onesie, then looking it over.  
"Umm.. how.. how bad is it?" He asked, trying to estimate his size.  
"About 7 to 10 cm? Maybe?"  
You made a so and so movement with your hand.  
He looked up at you closing one eye against the brightness and narrowing the other.  
"Whelp, this is not just a tiny bit-ty unsettling. In fact.. I  
may need some time to ketch- up."  
His gaze dropped down to his lap again. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that he was no longer close to the humans soul he could feel how low on magic he still was.  
Sure he could move unlike the evening before, but if he wanted to avoid mooching off the humans soul he would need a lot of magic food to be able to stop the shrinking. 

He was starving. 

Ketchup should help his general situation.  
Lots of it.  
Why were they not mad.  
He may have tried to save them, but he was the one who got them into the situation in the first place, they must know that, right?

Yeah, he needed ketchup alright. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Silence.  
You waited for him to keep going.  
He rubbed his head.  
Then his soul(?) Growled.  
'Oh?'  
"Oh right"  
you smacked your face "you must be hungry. " you said. 

"You okay to be picked up? I want to put you on the kitchen counter for now."  
You looked at him pointing behind you.

Sans shook his head shrugging and nodding "yeah sure why not.  
I..  
survived being picked up so far and I don't really get vertigo."

Conflicted.. you thought. But him not getting vertigo was a good info. 

Carefully you put him up on the counter. He really held still but went stiff, glancing down what you could only assume must look like the view from a ten story building.  
When he was safely on the counter he flopped back, sighing relieved.  
So you made your way over. 

First order of business you grabbed some ketchup from the fridge.  
Seeing the ketchup he sprung into a sitting position, making grabby hands.  
You chuckled, opening it for him and handing it to him quickly.  
The package was empty in mere moments. Sans wasn't hungry, he was ravenous, you opened two more packages for him, he practically inhaled.  
Now you had to make a tough choice, giving the skeleton with the grabby hands more ketchup or actually making him a real meal.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
They must be able to read his mind.  
Ketchup.  
Yes!  
Lots of it, please.  
He needed answers and he needed something off his chest and magic, lots and lots of it. 

3 Packages?  
That merely took the edge off his hunger by a bit (heh). 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"C'mon kid, don't let me down, here."  
Sans begged.

Papyrus insisted on Sans getting real food, though, since ketchup seemed to make him.. drunk(?) if he had too much of it.  
You wouldn't want that,  
especially in his current condition. 

Then again, Sans was crawling out of his onesie now and running over to the open fridge, since you were thinking too much.  
He did it despite his dislike of physical activities, so he really seemed to need more magic.  
For a moment you spaced out, watching him with fascination until you saw him eye the ketchup bottle in the door and preparing to jump. That woke you up. 

"Stop!" 

He froze for a moment, then prepared to jump anyways. You blocked him with the hand that wasn't closing the fridge quickly.  
"I know you're hungry, but papyrus said you should eat properly. "  
You scolded. 

He looked at you with utter mortification on his face.  
"But I'm hungry, now! C'mon kid, I'm all bones here. " he whined.  
You shot him a brow. 

He went to your hand pushing against it weakly but since it didn't budge looked up at you with pleading eyes.  
Well if he didn't have any qualms touching your hand right now.  
You lowered your hand, to which he started to look hopeful but instead of opening the fridge again with the other, you brought it to the edge of the counter.

He looked at you, then your hand and you saw the realization.  
"Wait, kid, I uh…"  
He tried to resist, but there wasn't really much fire to it.  
Glancing up at you he was met with a patient expression. You weren't grabbing or pushing him, but more ketchup was off the table (no pun intended this time).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So close.  
Just a little more ketchup.  
Maybe that bottle would have been nearly enough to ease his mind so he could talk more freely.  
Now he would have to bargain and try to trust instead.  
Putting his life literally in the hands of someone he assumed he had driven to an edge.  
His distrust reminded him of his current lack of magic and limited possibilites to escape if needed.  
Then again he had been asleep in their hands, fed by their souls magic and there was no resentment. Just, why?

He wrecked his skull, in the end answers could only be given if the question was asked. 

He sighed, tensing up the closer he got to the edge.

Doesn't make this possible drop any less bothersome. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking past your hand to the ground, he steeled himself, swallowing(?) nervously before stepping onto it. 

Carefully you brought him up to your chest.

With your hand behind him, keeping him to your chest, and your soul right in front of him, he seemed to relax a bit and you swear you could feel a little tingle in your chest where he was. 

Papyrus mentioned how magic flowed easier between a monster and their caretaker if they got along. You were ready to give him what he needed when he came to you but did this mean he was accepting it now? Or was he just that starved for magic that he saw no other choice. 

A sigh broke you out of your thoughts. "Kid, I can practically hear those cogs turning in your head.. I uh..  
This is okay, too.  
Not a.. as keen about the possible thousand foot drop but..  
I..  
I trust ya."

Now you were puzzled, he already acted weird the evening before and when he tried to lift you out of the tub… what happened between you being the scum of the universe and 'yeah, just pick me up, no biggie'?

Grumpily he scratched his skull, then he deflated and sighed defeated.  
"C'mon, buddy, if you deny me the ketchup, at least let me explain before closing off."  
He patted your chest.  
Oh(?) so this was enough to dampen the magic flow 

"Okay, uh.. sorry..?"

For a moment he fidgeted a little, clinging to your shirt. 

"Hold on a moment, though."  
You interrupted him. 

You made your way over to your bedroom. Deciding breakfast could wait a little longer, you laid down in the middle of the bed, so Sans could relax while he told you what happened.  
Not like he was the only one nervous about a possible drop, handling someone so small wasn't easy.  
You moved your hand so it lay behind him instead of covering him.

When you had settled, Sans took a moment to look around, noting how a potential drop on your bed might not be instant dusting, before he splayed out on your chest, sighing relieved.  
"Thanks, big guy." he patted you.

Then you two just laid there for a moment, adjusting to the new situation.  
You swear you could feel the magic trickling over to him it wasn't painful or draining, more ticklish in a way. 

After a while he took in a deep breath and sat up, leaning against your finger.  
You had to crane your neck a little to see him, but this time, you could.  
He stared ahead for a moment before looking up at your expectant gaze. 

He stiffened, then rubbed his neck.  
"So, I uh.."  
Nervously he fumbled around  
"Gheeze, really could have used some more ketchup for this (he mumbled)"  
Then he braced himself.  
"I wanted to apologize for being so  
..  
On edge..  
with ya."

You furrowed your brows.. "Sans.."  
He interrupted you, holding up his hand.  
Where was this going, you wondered. 

"When I  
…  
When I went with my previous… 'owner' I completely.. misjudged them."  
He rested his forehead on his hands, rattling. 

"That almost turned into the worst mistake of my life."  
He scoffed "don't get me wrong, I never thought she was a nice person.. but I thought she couldn't harm me.."  
He paused.

"Though in a way she never did until she left me in that alley. Or at least didn't realize she did.  
...  
She..  
treated me the way she thought was right. Like a moving and breathing doll..  
A prized possession..  
An interesting thing."

He looked to the side. "She didn't necessarily forbid me to talk she just ignored everything that I said. Well except if she wanted to know things about monsters."

You frowned at that. It sounded like torture to you being disregarded like that. Turning to the side you took a steadying breath to not let your anger boil up. There was a pang of sympathy for Sans.

"Heh!"  
He laughed at your reaction.  
"There's the difference, between you and her."

Your eyes widened at his comparison.  
He studied you. 

"Yeah, when I got here, I was fed up with humans and I couldn't afford to trust again.  
You were curious, like her, took my clothes away without asking and just when I started to trust you, you hit me with that bad tv show."

He pulled his knees closer.

"I was afraid I misjudged again.  
That my trust was misplaced...  
I..  
didn't think straight…

Guess being this small really made me lose my funny bone, heh."  
Your smile twitched up a bit, but your brows were still scrunched up in sympathy.

He held his head with his hands, agitated. 

"You were curious alright,  
You did take my clothes  
And you had the worst idea when it came to picking a TV show. 

But..  
Your motivation was normal interaction. Getting to know me, help me.. spend an evening lazing around, watching TV.  
It was all that I was looking for when I was looking for a caretaker, being treated like a person. Then I get it and mess it up.."

He looked at you distressed.  
"I didn't mean to.. uh, I mean I didn't think you would… uh  
…  
I'm sorry.."  
He was shivering. 

"Woah, Uh okay, calm down, big guy..  
what's wrong?"  
You were legitimately worried now. 

"I mean when I came into the bathroom and you were.."  
He was frantically searching for words.  
Try as you may, you didn't know what made him so upset. 

"I don't understand why you aren't even upset either."  
It felt like he was getting panicky. 

"I mean I don't think, I could have ever forgiven myself if my distrust caused you to…  
(He stammered)

When I went around the corner, you just slid down..  
And you seemed tired and I didn't know if you fell asleep or.. or you wanted to..  
Because I had given you such a hard time.."  
Piece by piece you connected the dots of his erratic thoughts. 

"Oh !"  
You realized "Oh, that's why you…  
Oh my.. I wasn't.  
I.."  
He stilled, looking up at you puzzled. 

"Oh boy,..  
Sans, I'm sorry, you really got the wrong idea there. "

Scratching your head you collected yourself looking at his pitiful expression. 

"I just got back from a bit of an exercise and soaked a little."  
Covering your eyes you took in a breath, grinning in disbelief. How much of a bad timing could one person have?  
"I can see why you panicked then, though.  
And you wasted so much magic on trying to..

You were trying to save me, because you thought I was drowning?!"  
You slapped your face.

"Man, I don't know if I should say sorry or thank you…"  
He blushed.  
Absentmindedly you stroked his spine, to which he tensed at first but then let out a relieved sigh "So you weren't in any danger?"

"No."  
"And it wasn't because I.."  
You shook your head disbelieving his bad timing.  
There were little tremors going through his body now before he started laughing. "And and I thought.. oh stars.. oh my" he kept laughing "what a relief! Hahaha!"  
He flopped to his belly and kept laughing.  
"Man, fate really has a 'bone' to pick with me, huh?!" 

You snickered along a bit, stroking his spine, trying to calm him.

Slowly his tremors died down.  
Then he let out a relieved breath, pulling in your hand to cover him and pet your finger.  
"So, can I have some more ketchup now?"  
He asked, tired amusement in his voice.  
"I think the bottle I saw earlier should be just about enough for now." An exasperated chuckle told you he didn't get his hopes up on that ketchup bottle, though. 

"Nah" you poke his skull. "We're going to get some real food."  
Then you paused for a moment.  
"You said you didn't get vertigo, is that true?"

"Yeah. Sure.  
Doesn't mean fast movement and heights don't rattle me, though."  
He shivered at the thought. 

"Hmm.."  
You pondered. 

If the bad guys were still after you because of him, taking him along would be a bad idea.  
But you really didn't want to leave him and you were sure both of you could use some fresh air right about now.

"What are you thinking?" He asked narrowing his eye sockets skeptically.

"Let's check if we got some clothes for you first, you still feel pretty cold."

"Won't deny a helping hand there, bud.  
Not that I mind being trapped in warmth. I really am a person of into rest after all."

You grinned, that one was bad. 

"Don't worry, I know a warm place that'll make you feel at home. It's got food you like and the bartender is burning to meet you.  
Didn't your brother say he even paid your tab?" 

That made his face light up and a little sparkle glow in his eyes. 

"Grillby?!  
You mean it?!"

He deserved a break and despite his worry returning after a moment, you knew he needed this. A piece of normality.  
As normal as someone could feel being shrunken and stalked. 

You needed to talk to a certain child about the second problem, despite planning to do your best to protect him in the meantime.  
Sans had lost a lot of his confidence in others and himself, which you realized when you observed him and his brother. Another reason you wanted to make a trip to the bitty center, making his stay with you as caretaker official, so he could rest assured everybody knew where he was and start to heal. Your mind went dark at the phantom pain in your formerly broken rib. Nobody better test your resolve to keep him safe, though. Next time you wouldn't take smack lying down, even if fighting was your last option. 


End file.
